Say When
by jamespotterthefirst
Summary: AU. A version of how Lily Evans and James Potter would have met if they were only two university students in a world where magic and Hogwarts didn't exist.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Just wanted to write a little something about how Lily and James would have met in an Alternate Universe. Hence, this shall take place in a world where Hogwarts and magic do not exist. Also, you should know I am ****_horrible_**** about updating anything. Please forgive me in advanced. **

**And yes, this switches from Lily to James with no specific consistency. Let's see how it goes!**

**Disclaimer: Not Jo :(**

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><p><em><strong>Lily<strong>_

That particular September morning held no promise that the day would be different from any other. Her alarm blared through the tiny flat at exactly thirty minutes before it usually did. As expected, she pressed snooze three times before groggily dragging her feet to the shower.

She dressed, greeted her roommate, and chose tea over coffee— the same routine of every morning. It was an almost mundane start of the day to her, until she couldn't find her keys.

Had she found her keys, her day would have gone as it normally did: she would have carefully driven to work, arrived safely and on time to class with no interruption. But one of her best mates, Benjy Fenwick, had borrowed her car the previous night after Marlene McKinnon had loudly declared she was craving pizza. Lily had no recollection of exactly where her keys ended up in the excitement the arrival of food caused.

"Lils, Marlene's here to pick me up," her roommate called from the living room as she collected a few items on her way to the door. "See you at lunch, yeah?"

Lily, who was crouched down, searching for any sign of her keys under the kitchen table, called back, "Yeah!" Then, as an afterthought, she yelled, "Cas, have you seen my—" But the sound of the door shutting against its frame told her Dorcas was long gone.

After ten minutes of rummaging through the flat, turning drawers upside down and throwing cushions on the floor, Lily found them, tucked in between the cushions of the couch. She snatched them up with such force that the cold metal hurt her shaky fingers.

Not bothering with breakfast, Lily grabbed her book bag and darted toward the door. In her haste, she almost stepped on the flowerbed Dorcas insisted on having at the entrance of the building. _They'll cheer up the place_, she had argued. Lily had to admit, she was right. They made the dingy brick building look livelier somehow. Lily was grateful the door lock cooperated with her that morning, it had been protesting stubbornly for the past few weeks. The rain had also ceased and Lily sighed in relief. The last thing she needed was traffic, late as she was.

But of course there was traffic by the time Lily was actually on the road, far too much than was normal for the busy part of town. Cars trailed dangerously close to each other for as far as she could see, their drivers gripping the steering wheel tighter with each frustrated fraction of a foot they moved. Twenty minutes in, Lily let her head fall back against the headrest almost painfully, kissing her spot in one of the most coveted classes at the university goodbye. From what she heard from Dorcas, her professor had little to no tolerance for late arrivals.

"She's notorious for moving your empty desk out to the hall," Dorcas had told her after their pizza had been devoured by the four the previous night. "I'd wake up extra early if I were you, just to make sure you're there with plenty of time."

And Lily had waken up thirty minutes before, but what she had not factored in was pressing snooze for ten more glorious minutes of sleep each time. And of course, there was losing her bloody keys. She made a mental note to scold her friend Benjy for borrowing them so late at night, instantly dismissing the thought and reminding herself it was no one's fault.

They moved again, but just as before, their progress was irritatingly minimal. Lily clenched her jaw, her knuckles ghostly white against the grey swirl of clouds on her windshield. The car beside her jerked into a different lane rather recklessly, opening the way for her to mirror its rash move and merge into the faster lane. Without a second thought, she seized the opportunity, narrowly missing the car behind her. Feeling a shot of adrenaline course through her, she continued down the flow of moving cars, only to stop abruptly as her lane slowed down again.

"Damn," she hissed, feeling her muscles tense up once more.

She was seconds away from considering dropping out of university if it meant never putting up with the horrid town, when they neared an intersection. Lily slammed her foot on the break as the sluggish traffic ceased again, her finger tapping against the steering wheel as she considered turning into the new street.

It was a route she had never taken to school before. The name of the street alone sounded intimidating, almost frightening when she remembered it being uttered by some of her classmates. If she remembered correctly, it was the street with the most luxury flats where the upper-class students preferred to live. She could only imagine what her poor, rumbling beige car from almost two decades ago would look like next to the flashy sports cars parked all along the street.

They began to move again, the opulent street passing her with every foot she advanced.

Lily's eyes darted to look at the street one more time, mentally preparing herself to say goodbye to the opportunity. The breath-taking building facades paled in comparison to the beautifully deserted road.

Making up her mind at the very last second, she swiveled the steering wheel abruptly, her car turning sharply into the street and squealing away from the angry blaring of horns that followed her. She sped up the unfamiliar road, pulse racing, her hands shaking at the memory of the uncharacteristic and dangerous move. As she advanced smoothly, she found that she cared less and less, mostly because if she drove slightly above the speed limit, she would just make it to class on time.

Elated, Lily sang out loud when her favorite song came on the radio, the lavish buildings she sped by nothing but a blur. Perhaps Marlene was right when she said she had to be more aggressive in order to get the results she wanted.

Life was looking rather bright when a flash of scarlet flashed out of nowhere a few feet ahead. Her reflexes recognized it as another car before her mind did. Before she knew it, her foot stomped on the break so hard that she thought she would break the pedal off. With a jolt that sent her whole body lurching forward, her car stalled. Lily, momentarily restrained by her seatbelt, was thrown back violently against her seat. The car behind her, having enough time to swerve onto the next lane, honked angrily at her as it passed.

There was no use trying to regain control of her hands. They were shaking frantically against her will, to the point where it was impossible to reach out and take her car off gear. She could hear her frantic pulse drum unsteadily against her ears and her head was spinning. Lily's mind first registered that she was alive and well. Another part of her mind wondered if this was punishment for trying to cheat traffic.

With a deep breath meant to calm herself down, she took in the scene before her. The scarlet and rather expensive-looking car she had seen had also come to a sudden halt. It was in the middle of coming out of the inconspicuous entryway of a coffee shop when Lily had seen it.

The door of the offending car shot open, allowing the driver to hurry out and examine the cars for possible damage. He was about the same age as Lily— tall, bespectacled, with black hair that stuck at odd angles, not in a sloppy manner but more in one that exuded charm. Paying no attention to Lily, he squat down to take a closer look at the front bumper of his car. Lily, having found the feeling in her legs once more, took that as her opportunity to exit her car and do the same.

She walked around the front of her small car and a quick glance told her that their cars had not actually touched but were very close to doing so. The young man, too, seemed satisfied that no damage had been done and stood up straight, unaware that Lily was standing mere inches from him. He was almost face to face with her and staring at her straight in the eye when he turned.

He blinked, taken aback by their unexpected proximity but he did not step away immediately. Instead, he watched her for a moment, at first with interest. Then, something else sparked in his eyes, which she noted were hazel. Intimidated, Lily backed away and tore her eyes from his, feeling embarrassed for doing so. To her utter surprise, he laughed.

Lily didn't know exactly why, but it irritated her. When she looked up at him again, she saw he was grinning— a confident, amused smirk— which did nothing to improve her disposition.

"Are you all right?" he asked her. His hand, which had been in his pocket, shot to his hair, ruffling it mindlessly as if it was some sort of reflex.

Instead of answering that she was, she snapped, "How careless of a driver can someone _be_?"

Her voice was almost drowned by the sound of traffic.

He raised an eyebrow. "I didn't see you," he began. He looked over his shoulder at the shrubbery decorating the sidewalk by the entryway.

But Lily cut him off. "Hasn't anyone told you to stop and check traffic before you turn? I mean, do you realize how bad of a crash this could have been?"

Instead of answering, he studied her for a moment and to her dismay, he grew more amused. "I'm James," he said at last, unfazed by her sharp tone. "James Potter."

Lily gaped, incredulous at how lightly he was taking the situation. She was about to retort when he said, "Are you sure you're alright? You look shaken up." His voice dropped some of its previous confidence, replaced with concern. Lily, however, was far too angry to register it. She would never arrive on time now, even if she abandoned the situation, jumped in her car, and sped her car far beyond its limit.

James, meanwhile, nodded toward the small building behind him. "You look like you need some tea, it can really calm-"

Lily glanced around to look at him, incredulous. "You're _joking_, right?"

He blinked, but otherwise shook off her sharp tone.

"I'm not," he replied cheerfully. "It's miraculous what tea does. Alcohol, too, but given the circumstances…" he swept a hand vaguely at their almost collided cars, "tea would be a wiser option."

"I don't want tea," she said tensely, examining their cars for the second time. She surveyed his more closely than hers, afraid that she may have missed any damage to the expensive paint job.

"Coffee?" he offered uncertainly. "That might not be a good idea either in your state. It might make you—"

"I'm fine," she cut it, crossing her arms to stop them from shaking.

He did not miss the gesture, raising his eyebrows at her.

"_Honestly_," was all she could say when his eyes studied her closely, looking far from convinced.

In the five seconds it took him to discern that she was lying, she could see the color returning to his face and hands. He had been just as terrified as she had been at their near collision. Lily's eyes traveled back to his face, almost astonished to see that it betrayed no signs of fright despite his previous pallor.

The deafening sound of a car horn brought them back to the present situation. Their stalled cars were blocking most of the lane, forcing oncoming cars to swerve out of the way. Lily felt the icy panic of missing her lesson settle over her body, her stomach dropping as she registered the time. "I have to go," she told him, already marching to her car.

He trailed her at once. "At least take a minute to calm down," he said over the angry and very colorful words a middle-aged woman sent their way.

"I don't have time to take a minute," she retorted, feeling her previous annoyance return.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because you almost _hit_ me!"

"Precisely why," he said. "I wasn't joking when I said tea would-"

"And you've made me late!" she interrupted, her voice far louder than it needed to be. She regretted it immediately, her cheeks steadily feeling hotter. Taking in a deep breath, she tried again. "I'm really late for a class I can't afford to miss," she explained, unsure why. She was wasting time. "I don't have time for tea or for a _date_."

His eyebrows shot up again. "Date?" he asked, the amused smirk returning to his face. "Is that what you thought I was doing?"

Lily said nothing, feeling her ears grow hot.

" I wasn't offering tea as a way of asking you out," he explained with laughter in his voice and crossing his arms over his chest. Doing so made him look taller somehow. "You really did look awful. After all, we almost did die together back there." He gestured to the scene of the near-accident with his head. His grin widened. "You really thought I was asking you out?"

Lily remained rooted on the spot, horrified.

"If you wanted a date with me that badly, you could have just asked me yourself," he said quite seriously, though his grin said the complete opposite. "Ball was on your court anyway. I don't usually ask out girls whose names I don't know." He watched her, something in her mortified expression amusing him to no end. "What's yours, by the way?"

"Prick," she muttered as she recovered, ignoring his last question.

"That's an interesting name," he observed. "A bit unusual and unfortunate, though. Not as unfortunate as my cousin Ignotus's name, thinking about it. That's just uncreative on top of horrid. The fact that it's a family name is really no excuse. Prick, on the other hand, works for both a boy and a girl. Creative the more I say it. Prick," he said to himself, emphasizing the last letter so that the muscles of his neck jolted against his skin. "Tell me, Prick, what last name goes with such a clever name?"

Lily, having glared determinately at the traffic instead of him as he spoke, looked up. "Prick Potter seems to fit," she returned, proud she had remembered his surname.

His dark eyebrows shot up as he considered her less than admirable attempt at an insult. Lily regretted that she was still shaken up from nearly crashing. Under normal circumstances, she could have managed a far wittier retort.

"Isn't that a bit forward?" he asked at last.

"I meant you're the-"

"Shouldn't you invite me to coffee before you start taking my last name?"

"I'm leaving," she announced, turning on her heel to continue toward her car.

James chuckled, following her again. "I was only joking," he told her. "Just… hang on."

She was so very late yet, reluctantly, she did.

"At least tell me your name?" he asked, all traces of humor slipping from his voice.

"Lily," she replied before she could consider it. Before he could make any comment, she climbed inside her car.

"Wait, shouldn't we exchange information?" he asked.

"There was no impact."

"I disagree," he replied.

Lily's eyes widened, already tallying the innumerable amount of money she would have to pay to fix even the slightest scratch on his car. He must have read her mind because he laughed. "No, don't worry, my car's fine."

Lily shot him an unamused glare.

"I'm really leaving now," she said dryly.

Before he could say anything to stop her, she started her engine, grateful it did not embarrass her with the loud groans it randomly emitted. Without sparing him a glance, she put her car in first gear, ready to maneuver around his car. Before she did so, however, his eyes fell on something on her dashboard and recognition flitted in his expression, "Hey, you go to—"

But Lily never heard the end of that sentence. She successfully swerved around his car and sped off. She could see him standing there through her rearview mirror and even as he grew tinier, she could tell her was grinning.

When Lily arrived on campus, she wasted even more time outside her lecture hall, deciding whether to go inside or not. At least her desk was nowhere in sight like Dorcas had warned. In the end, she decided to take a chance and walk into the lecture lest her dangerous race to get there go to waste. The Arthurian Literature professor, a strict woman of about fifty with black, graying hair and stern features, stopped mid-sentence at her arrival, glared at her from atop her glasses and assured her that the next time she was late to her lecture, she would deduct a whole letter from her final grade.

Mumbling her apologies, and avoiding the fifty pairs of eyes that followed her, Lily sank into her seat.

Already, the morning was one of the most eventful ones she had ever had. Lily couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not.

In years to come, however, she would decide it was her luckiest morning, and avoiding a crash or being allowed to stay in class had nothing to do with that.

All because she lost her bloody keys.

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><p><strong>AN:<strong> Let me know what you think, please?I might expand to more chapters in the future.

Love,

Bree

**EDIT:** The date is December 31st, 2015. I originally published this chapter on June 24, 2011. I have edited this majorly because I don't know why anyone let me write back then. Sorry if editing this is a bad thing. I tried to be gentle.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Well this only took a year to upload. Thank you for your lovely reviews! And for sticking around for this!**

**James's POV up next!**

**Disclaimer: Not that you thought so, but I am not Jo Rowling. **

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><p><em><strong>James<strong>_

James wasn't supposed to be there.

There were a million other places he could be be aside from that coffee shop. He could spend some time visiting Remus and making sure his friend was recovering. He could be in the library, finally acknowledging the not-so-subtle hints from the blonde from his Economics class. He would even prefer to be in his flat, doing his best to pick up the rubbish cluttering the living room while Sirius retold the events of their last match for the fifth time that week.

He could be anywhere with anyone, yet he found himself in that coffee shop, wasting his morning waiting idly for something he knew would not happen.

His only consolement was that the coffee was decent.

He glanced at his wristwatch impatiently for what must have been the fifth time in the last twenty minutes. _He's late_, he thought bitterly though not at all surprised, _as always_. The door of the tiny, crowded coffee shop opened and closed incessantly with every person that entered and left. His eyes darted to the door hoping it was finally his father's form that rushed in through the entryway with a half decent apology and not some irritated customer in need of their daily caffeine fix.

After almost an hour of waiting, he learned to stop looking.

The young waitress approached his table again with a deliberate coy grin and pot of coffee. James hadn't missed how she had fluffed up her hair and tugged at her uniform shirt lower behind the counter before sauntering over to him. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes when she breathily asked him if there was _anything_ she could get him. Already in a horrid mood, he dryly told her that there wasn't and returned to his newspaper, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited.

Deciding only minutes later that he had had enough of waiting, he stood from his seat in the corner of the small venue and stormed out the door, receiving an angry glare from the man he almost slammed into.

Angrily, he took out his cell phone from his pocket and punched in a few numbers.

"James," answered the voice of his mother, her tone stern. There was no need for him to explain away the forty five minutes he wasted that morning waiting for his father. Her tone implied that she already knew and that she guessed at her son's foul mood. "He's just running a bit late, dear."

"A bit?"

"There's been some sort of accident on the road and the traffic is disastrous."

"He could have called," he deflected at once.

"If you could just—"

"No, I'm leaving."

"Just fifteen more minutes, darling," she implored, but James had pressed the _End_ button before she was finished. Feeling a backlash of guilt, he lingered in the crowded parking lot, considering how idiotic taking his mother's advice would be.

Perhaps she was right and his father _was_ only running late.

James glanced down at his phone to take in the time. He had a good hour before his next class. He could afford to wait fifteen minutes for his father.

His eyes glanced at the white LED digits displaying the time again, trying to rid from his mind how the conversation would go if his father showed up.

_If_ he showed up. It was never a matter of when anymore.

The clock on his phone switched to the next minute. His eyes fell on his empty inbox, feeling anger course through him like a furious river once more. If there was even the smallest possibility of his father showing up, he would have at least contacted him, begging him to wait.

He felt foolish for ever thinking otherwise.

Infuriated, he climbed into his car, slamming the door with far more force than needed. He knew he would regret any possible damage he may have caused his beloved car, but as his ears buzzed madly, he did not care. He backed out of the parking lot recklessly, startling a few customers who sat by the fountain outside as he accelerated out of the small lot.

He was almost halfway into turning onto the road, however, when his foot slammed harshly and suddenly on the brake pedal, sending him violently forward in less than a second.

"Fuck!" he cried in shock, audible over the loud squeal of his tires.

There was a small stab of pain from where his seatbelt dug into his chest, making the furious beating of his heart that much more painful. His glasses slid down the bridge of his nose, dangling askew from his ears. His hands, pale and trembling struggled to clutch on to the steering wheel. And it was moments after registering that he had heard no impact, that his mind fully processed that he was unscratched.

He was out of the car in seconds, crouching low to examine any possible damage. It wasn't that he was concerned for the car itself, or perhaps he was since he adored it with a conviction that befuddled Remus. Rather, a single scratch on it would bring about a whirlpool of unwanted problems with his father and endless rants about how irresponsible and careless he was. As if he needed any more of those.

Assured that the old, bland, beige car had not made contact with his, he straightened, ready to yell a thing or two at the driver.

But when he whirled around all insults died at his throat.

He found himself staring into a pair of green eyes unlike any he had ever seen. They were not the generic blue-green eyes that most people had— they were emerald green, big, bright, and staring right at his. For the first time in a long time—as long as he could remember, at least— he was rendered completely silent. The redhead averted her eyes from his and reddened, which was comical to him given that her face threatened to be the same color as her hair. He laughed and this inspired a scowl from her.

"Are you all right?" He ran his hand through his hair, a habit that many saw as a sign of confidence when really, it epitomized his anxiousness.

At once, she began to yell at him instead of replying his question. This, of course, only amused him more. There she stood, relatively shorter and smaller than him and unafraid to give him a piece of her mind. Even when James tried to explain that he didn't see her because of those sodding bushes blocking his line of vision, she refused to relent. But of course, her scolding— much like anyone's scolding, really— had no effect on him. Instead of offering any more arguments that she would surely shoot down, he told her his name as casually as if they hadn't been close to crashing.

Those green eyes bore into him incredulously. He found himself close to chuckling. The sound would have left his lips, but it was then that he noticed how, despite her anger, her arms and hands were shaking, both just as pale as her face.

"Are you sure you're alright? You look shaken up." His phone buzzed in his pocket before he could go on. One quick glimpse at it told him it was his father's assistant. The flash of anger and disappointment he felt must have been apparent in his expression, but at that moment, the redhead was paying him no attention, too busy staring at her car and silently considering something. "You look like you need some tea, it can really calm—"

She looked away from her car, her long, red hair cascading over her shoulders as she whirled around to face him. It cost him some effort to tear his eyes away from it. "You're _joking_, right?" she asked in disbelief.

The sharp edge in her tone took him aback momentarily. Recovering, he attributed it to her shock of avoiding what would have been a nasty crash.

"I'm not," he returned, mindful to adopt a careless, even cheerful tone to distract her mind from what almost occurred. He rambled on about something to do with tea and alcohol. Luckily, he managed to stop himself before his rant became idiotic as they often did.

"I don't want tea," she told him almost idly, her attention already invested in examining their cars, this time in a lot more detail. He watched her as she scanned the surface of his car, his eyes taking in the small cluster of freckles that decorated her nose and cheeks.

When he realized he had not said anything in far too long, he offered her coffee, which she refused with reassurances that she was fine. Her efforts would have been a lot more convincing if she had not hugged her hands to her body to stop them from trembling. Even without that, the lovely pink flush spreading on the surface of her cheeks betrayed her shamelessly.

The feeling slowly returned to his hands like warmth thawing out a block of ice. He realized then that perhaps he had been far more affected by their accident than he was letting on. The redhead, meanwhile, was watching him intently, perhaps realizing the very same thing.

If she was going to comment on it, she never had the opportunity. Right that second, a loud car horn startled them both.

After a few minutes of banter that he enjoyed far too much than was normal, he watched her go, only regretting that he didn't learn her whole name.

It was with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that James endured his lessons that day. The way all thoughts about the mysterious redhead refused to leave his mind was ridiculous and a new occurrence to him, so much so that he refrained from mentioning it to Sirius during practice that morning. Not that it stopped his best mate from correctly guessing that there was something definitely up.

"Blonde from Economics turned you down?" Sirius guessed, catching up to him easily during another drill of running.

"What?" James asked, breaking his focus.

Sirius ventured another guess. "Something's happened to your car?"

"Drop it, Padfoot."

With an effortless than was almost laughable, they passed half of their teammates. Something seemed to have occurred to Sirius before the lap was over. "Chat with Mr. Potter this morning was a disaster?"

James had almost entirely forgotten about his dad until then. He offered no reply and his best mate, as usual, pursued none after that, knowing he had guessed correctly.

He didn't think it possible but his mood plummeted from there.

He needed to get a grip. For all he knew, he would never see her thought made his stomach sink much more than he was comfortable admitting.

He was proven very wrong, just like he had very little times before and just like he would be many times in the future from that day on, when he walked into the food court after his last lesson of the day. Despite wanting nothing more than to go straight to his flat and have a drink, he had agreed to meet Remus there. It was the least he could do for his mate, who had fallen ill more than usual in the past few days and who, though he refused to admit it to the other three, felt lonely more often than not.

Cheered up slightly by the thought of food, James studiously observed the different menus plastered on the wall above the counter, mentally commenting that the cafeteria really ought to serve bigger plates.

That was when he saw her.

In her effort to make her way through the crowd, she bumped slightly into James, muttering an apology without looking back at him, too busy fumbling with her phone as the vast majority of the student population was accustomed to. James turned to look merely as a reflex but the sight of her thick, red hair made him take a second look.

She paused before the sea of tables until she found an empty one. James watched as she sat down, looked at her insisting phone, and turned off the sound before it could continue to bother her. She set it flat on the table before pulling out a large volume from her book bag and beginning to read.

Ignoring the way his pulse picked up at his sheer luck, he swept across the room, grin still in place. Dodging the various students he found in his path, he quietly approached her, leaning down slightly only to catch the title of the volume she was reading. Lily, perhaps too engrossed in her book, did not seem to notice his presence yet.

"_The Cambridge Introduction to British Romantic Poetry,_" he read out loud, inflecting mock disgust. The green eyes that had made such an impression on him that morning tore away from the pages of the book to meet his. A series of emotions flickered in their depths. First curiosity about who had spoken, then recognition, finally settling on surprise. "A bit treacherous of you, don't you think?"

Lily considered him silently. "I like to see what mad interpretations the competition fabricates," she replied at last, putting the book down.

James dropped into the seat across from her, when she didn't stop him, he said, "And what's the verdict so far? Are their literary skills just as piss poor as their football?"

"Yes and I couldn't have put it as eloquently as you just did," she returned.

James laughed, opening his mouth to reply. Before the words could leave him, however, Lily settled back on her seat.

"So, Potter," she casually asked, storing her book away. "Did you follow me?"

It hadn't occurred to him that it might seem as if he had. "I didn't," he told her and noting the hints of disbelief in her slightly narrowed eyes, he added, "Promise. It was all luck."

Lily arched an eyebrow in response, though not unkindly.

James laughed again, repressing the urge to run his hand through his hair. "You may have already made up your mind that I am some reckless stalker who drives poorly," he started, pulling out his wallet from his back pocket, "but I promise I'm only one of those things." Lily opened her mouth immediately, but he was quick to add, "Er… the reckless driver part, I mean. Not the stalker part. I actually go here." Feeling far more idiotic than he should at his senseless ranting, he quickly showed her his identification card that confirmed him a student of the same university.

Lily did not laugh. Instead, she read the small plastic identification card, her expression impassive. Her eyes scanned the plastic several times, always settling on the same spot but making no comment aside from that. When he was convinced she would say nothing, she finally said, "Harrison?"

"What?" he asked, dumbfounded. It seemed ridiculous that someone he had only met mere hours ago was able to rob him entirely of confidence like she did. He felt his face redden when he remembered. "Er, yeah, my middle name," he said, hastily turning the card down against the surface of the table, as if concealing it would erase the information from her mind.

"After the actor?"

"After the Beatle," he replied almost indignantly. He could have sworn he saw the corner of her lip twitch again.

Lily, head tilted slightly against her shoulder, considered him. "It's rather nice," she finally said, the comment almost entirely lost in the bustle of the cafeteria.

"Right," he said, distracted from what he originally wanted to say. "Anyway, I'm glad I ran into you."

"Because now you've got solid proof wishful thinking actually works?" she suggested, her face devoid of the smirk plainly present in her tone. Now that more time had elapsed since their near crashed, she seemed far more relaxed and assertive.

"Not exactly because if it did your wish would have come true and I would have asked you out on that date this morning," he returned without missing a beat.

"I did not—" she began at once, dropping all guarded emotion.

James's laughter interrupted her. "Only joking," he told her when he sobered up. "I really only wanted to say—" The prospect of finishing his sentence was frustrated by the angry humming on her phone, made particularly louder by its contact against the table.

Her eyes fell on it and for some reason, her face paled just like it had done so that morning. Lily hesitated, looking at the phone as it rang with something akin to fright.

"You can answer that if you'd like," James started to say, but Lily had pushed the proper button to ignore the call. He opened his mouth to ask her if she was alright, but Lily flicked a dismissive hand, recovering almost instantly.

"What were you saying?" she prompted, her attention back on him.

"Right," he started uncertainly. "I didn't get a chance to this morning, but I wanted to—"

This time he was interrupted by the approach of a young blonde with wide eyes and a kind face. Her step, once determined and steady, slowed when she saw James.

"Hello, hello," she said to the redhead, bending down to kiss her cheek in greeting. "Sorry, I'm late," she said apologetically. "Professor Slughorn's lecture ran late. You know how chatty he is."

She looked at James once more and then expectantly at her friend.

"Oh, right," the other replied, snapping back to the reality that James was still sitting there. "Dorcas, this is—"

"James Potter," he cut in, already on his feet and shaking Dorcas's hand enthusiastically.

"Dorcas Meadowes," she replied, amused. "Roommate of the infamous Lily Evans here."

Lily shot her friend an unappreciative look at the mention of her surname which earned her a small chuckle from James and a puzzled stare from the blonde. Dorcas looked from James to Lily, and as if finally realizing something, she slowly asked, "Am I interrupting?"

"Not really," James said, deciding he was already pushing his luck with Lily by staying. "I should go."

Dorcas shook her head at once. "Not at all. I'll be out of your hair in a minute, anyway." She turned her attention to Lily who had been looking at James curiously. "Marlene wants to go shopping for more party supplies before my afternoon classes," she said with a sigh. "She also wanted me to tell you to know she changed the restaurant _again _to the first one she had originally chosen," at this, Lily opened her mouth, but knowing what she was going to say, Dorcas added, "I told her she could have just texted you all of this but you know her," she shook her head.

"Her birthday's not for another four months," Lily said, looking as though she was already tired of discussing the subject.

Dorcas nodded in agreement. "Exactly what I've been telling her every time she drags me around to make preparations."

"Fine," sighed Lily. "I'll just wait until the last minute to buy anything."

"Smart girl," Dorcas replied, already turning to leave the same way she'd come. "Anyway, I should head to class before McGonagall drags my seat out to the hall." Before the blonde could get very far, however, a thought struck her. Turning to Lily, she added, "Oh! And you're allowed to bring a date." Her blue eyes fell on James.

Lily muttered something unintelligible to her with a pointed glare but her friend simply smirked and, with a small wave goodbye, meandered around the crowd of students on her way to the exit.

"So, Evans…" James started slowly, marveling at being able to use her last name. He enjoyed it more than he thought he would.

"Not a word from you," Lily warned at once.

"You don't even know what I'm going to say."

"You want to be my date for Marlene's party," she guessed dryly.

"A little presumptuous, Evans, and flattering, but no," he said rather calmly, enjoying the mortification settling in her features. His voice abandoned all humor before he said, "I only wanted to apologize for this morning."

There was a long pause. Lily's face relaxed visibly, though her green eyes measured his expression for any signs of dishonesty. She must have seen none for her shoulders loosened as well.

"Aside from almost killing you in that crash," he continued. "I came off as a prat."

"I think the term was _prick_," she corrected quietly.

James nodded, laughing. "It was," he agreed. "I really only wanted to make sure you were all right."

She studied him for a few seconds more before nodding. "I'm fine now," she assured him.

James felt the tension leave his shoulders. "Good."

There was silence, filled only by the conversations that filled the busy cafeteria around them. It was too much for him to bear, especially when she watched him the way she did, as though she was privately making up his mind about him.

"Now," he started, resuming his previous taunting tone. "I'm sure this Marlene bird throws admirable parties, but I really am serious about buying me coffee first before asking me to be your date."

"I'm leaving," she announced, collecting her belongings.

"Wait," James called out in between laughter. She paused, looking at him expectantly. "Am I-" he began, deciding with an inward grimace to rephrase his question. "Do you come here often?"

Lily did not reply right away, considering the question. Her teeth caught her bottom lip as she did so and James found that he had to look away from it before staring too long. At last, she said, "Not really," she allowed. "But I can start."

James simply nodded to that, relieved.

"Then you might run into me again," she added, correctly guessing what his original question was going to be.

James watched her go for the second time that day, trying and failing to hide the idiotic grin she inspired. He was still wearing it when a tired but smiling Remus joined him.

"Did you meet with your dad this morning?" he asked rather cautiously after greeting him.

James, however, did not lose his smile, something that stunned Remus. "Met someone better," he replied simply, offering no further explanation.

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><p>AN: Thanks a billion once more!<p>

Love,

Bree

**EDIT:** I have rewritten time, I mean, this chapter as well. Not too much, though! (Dec. 31, 2014)


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:** So I'm not dead. It goes without saying that I shamelessly lied in my last update and told you guys this one wasn't going to take as long. Turns out, having a real job sucks. It takes away your time, energy, dreams, hopes, etc. _Anyway_, I just want to offer you all a big, fat thank you for being so patient! Honestly, you've all been so lovely and supportive and if it hadn't been for you, I would have left this a oneshot.

Also, I created a blog for updates about this fic. That can be found at** saywhenfic dot tumblr dot com **so come on over and say hello :)

Thank you to everyone who reviewed and favorited the last two!

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><p><em><strong>Lily <strong>_

It was raining the Wednesday when she saw him again.

Lily woke up, dazedly taking in the grayish light filtering through her window and thinking to herself that it was the middle of the night instead of eight in the morning. The blaring screech of her alarm only minutes after she decided to go back to sleep told her otherwise. After talking herself into leaving the pleasant warmth of her bed, Lily took a shower and checked her phone while her hair dried. She froze when it alerted her of five missed calls and several new messages, all from the same number. Stomach clenching horribly, she deleted all of them without opening a single one. Belatedly, she scolded herself for the way her pulse picked up as if seeing them there was a shock. It shouldn't have been since he had been calling her without fail for the past week.

Just then, she could hear the apartment's landline ringing through the closed door of her bedroom.

Dorcas answered it on the fourth ring.

Lily stood very still, straining her hearing with all her might. All she managed to hear through the walls, however, was the indistinct mumbling of conversation. The soft click of the phone going back on the receiver assured her the conversation was soon over, and she let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. At least her roommate didn't sound angry or agitated when answering the call.

"Good morning, Lils," Dorcas greeted her cheerfully as she entered the kitchen ten minutes later.

"Morning, Cas," Lily replied, trying her best to match her tone. She was sure she was overreacting, but still, she had to ask. "Was that the phone ringing earlier?"

"Yeah, it was Benjy," Dorcas said, picking up that morning's newspaper. She missed the way Lily's shoulders relaxed at once. "He's offered to buy the part he needs to fix the front door for us on his way to class since Mr. Filch won't do anything about it."

"That's nice of him," she commented absently, still feeling relief course through her. Considerably relaxed, she picked up the cup of tea Dorcas had made for hear and took a sip, watching the rain lash against the glass of the tiny window.

"Yeah, I figured there wasn't much sense in paying someone for something minor like that." Glancing up at her friend, she added, "I told him he could come over in the afternoon after your last class is out. Is that alright?"

Lily frowned. "I won't be here after class. I've got—" she paused, sparking Dorcas's interest even more. "I've got some studying to do."

Dorcas narrowed her eyes slightly. "Studying? Where?"

"The cafeteria," Lily hedged, taking a sip of her tea.

Understanding crossed her roommate's face. "Ah," she said brightly, a knowing smile curling her lips. "Studying the incredible figure of that pretty car crash bloke?"

"You're spending far too much time with Marlene," Lily observed, her face growing hot despite her efforts to deflect the subject.

Dorcas merely shrugged, taking no offense. "Well, can I tell Benjy to come over after your date with pretty car crash bloke, then?"

"Yes," she replied, adding quickly, "And it is not a date. The only thing you got right in that sentence is the fact that he's a bloke."

"And that he's pretty," quipped Dorcas, pressing her lips to the rim of her teacup in an effort to hide her smile.

"And we didn't exactly crash," Lily went on, ignoring her friend. "I'm only going to study for a bit in the cafeteria and he'll be there because he seems to like the place a lot."

"The place is not what he likes," the other replied, her voice practically singsong. "I saw the way he looked at you the other day."

Lily shot her a glare that was meant to finalize the pointless conversation, but she was certain the effect was entirely ruined by the blush that was undoubtedly coloring her face.

Dorcas merely laughed. "Anyway, Marlene finally has Friday off from training, so I invited her for dinner."

Lily nodded. "Sounds brilliant."

"I can cook then if you don't mind making something tonight."

"I don't mind," the redhead said, "I should be back with plenty of time to make something."

"Unless your date goes exceedingly well. In which case, I'll see you in the morning?"

"You're impossible," Lily announced at that, setting her cup of tea down on the counter. "Just tell Benjy to come over Friday too for dinner and he can fix the lock then."

"Ah," started her friend without missing a beat. "So tell Benjy _not_ to come over tonight since your date might run late, then?"

Lily sent her a look that was meant to silence her but was only successful in making her friend laugh. And with that, Lily was out of the apartment before any conversation on the subject could arise.

She was almost late to class again because of the traffic the rain generated. It didn't help that she was forced to park her car at the farthest lot, several blocks away from campus. Hair and clothes damp from the fierce drizzle, Lily couldn't help but glare enviously at the shiny cars parked right in front of the school, those whose owners could afford priority parking spaces.

At least sloshing through the rain had efficiently driven the calls from her mind.

After her literature class at noon, she walked into the cafeteria, shivering from the harsh cold that accompanied the rain. At first, she expected him not to be there. Perhaps he had grown bored of her repeated mood swings the other day, maybe even met someone else he could ensnare with his charm. But he was there, sitting at the exact same table, two cups of coffee in front of him. His black hair was wet from the rain, sticking at odd angles just like the first time they met. He looked around every so often, perhaps wondering if she was going to show.

Lily felt a small smile dawn on her face before she could stop it.

His eyes met hers just as she reached the table and he jolted momentarily, as though he was about to stand up. Lily wondered if he was going to pull her chair out for her, but she sat down before she could find out. His hand shot up straight into his hair as he said, "All right, Evans?"

"You're here," was the reply as she shrugged off her jacket.

"'Course I am," he replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Just like I am on a daily basis." He seemed to think better of it and added, "Not since I met you. I know we established your opinion of me as a stalker but I actually frequent this place a lot. It's not as daft as the library _and_ they've got food. Two winning combinations is my book. It would be the perfect place if it served alcohol, but no amount of wishful thinking is going to accomplish that, sadly," he pushed one of the cups across the table for her. "Anyway, I got you the tea I owed you from the other day."

"Has anyone told you before that you ramble an awful lot?" Lily asked, taking a seat in the chair across from him, pulling the hot mug closer to her. "Or do they never have the chance to get a word in?"

James grinned despite the color tingeing his cheeks. He opened to his mouth to respond, but seemed to think better of it. Instead, he said, "No one's pointed it out before, actually."

She got the feeling he wasn't being entirely truthful, particularly in the way he suddenly seemed to become interested in the thick droplets of rain plopping against the glass beside them. Just as she was about to point it out, her eyes fell on one of the books in the pile in front of him. One of them looked strikingly familiar. "_You're_ taking the Chaucer course?" she asked, surprised.

His attention back on her, he flashed her a crooked smile. Lily felt her stomach swoop slightly at that but she remained as expressionless as possible, waiting for his reply. "No need to sound so surprised, Evans." She felt her cheeks flare in embarrassment and his grin grew wider at the sight. "But yeah, I'm taking that class. It's all right."

"_All right?_" Lily repeated with incredulity. "It's one of the best classes in the department! I've been waiting to get into it for ages."

She wasn't sure, but she thought she saw something akin to guilt flash briefly on his face. "Er… yeah?" His hand shot up to his hair and Lily's eyes couldn't help but follow it. "S'not that great, to be honest. So you're not really missing much." Lily arched a skeptical eyebrow and he laughed. "All right, fine. It's actually quite brilliant. I was lying just then to make you feel better. And not to be conceited, but I'm very good at it, too. Top of the class, as a matter of fact."

Despite herself, she felt a pang of jealousy. Before she could stop herself, she remembered the identification card he had showed her the previous day and couldn't help but bitterly make the connection.

"How modest of you," she said dryly and James grinned. "So what other courses are you taking? I've never seen you in any of mine before."

James shifted in his seat. "That's the only lit one I'm taking. It's more of an elective."

Lily's eyes moved to his books again, this time paying particular attention to the titles on the spines. "Let me guess," she said after registering that the rest were accounting, management, and finance textbooks. "Business Administration?"

"More like undecided," he corrected quickly, seeming displeased by her assertion. "I'm only taking all of those to get my parents off my back. They're under this mad delusion that they get to tell me what classes to take just because they are paying for my school."

Lily tilted her head, looking at him curiously. "If you hate the classes so much, then you should just…stop taking them."

"What, just drop them? In the middle of the term?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Not right now. I meant when you choose your classes for next semester, choose the ones that you actually _want_ to take. If your parents don't want to pay for them, then you can pay for them yourself."

James gave out a humorless laugh. "I haven't got any money outside of the family income," he admitted.

"Then get a job, take out a loan, get yourself into debt like everyone else."

James laughed. "Even I'm not that brave, Evans," he said, taking a drink from his cup. "And besides, I don't actually need school for what I want to do."

"Which is?"

"Football," he announced proudly. "In fact, classes are holding me back from practice. I'd be loads better if I could only spend all that time on the field instead of lecture."

"That's a bit obsessive, don't you think?" James only shrugged. "And you're wrong, by the way."

"About what?"

"About it all," she said. "You could be brave enough for something you want badly enough."

James considered that quietly. His brow furrowed his brow slightly at the grimace on Lily's face.

"What?" he asked her.

"That sounded disgustingly cliche," she realized with a shudder. "Forget I said that."

James, however, laughed. "That was bloody good advice," he assured her.

Still unconvinced, Lily decided to go on. "You do need school to have a shot at making it into a proper football team. They'd never keep you on this school's team if you dropped all your classes."

"All right, all right," he said with a chuckle. "I promise I won't leave my classes, no matter how unnecessary they are."

"Good," she said, satisfied. "It'd be a terrible waste of money if you did."

"That wouldn't be such a problem for me," he assured her.

A pang of disappointment stabbed at her.

Just when she had recovered enough to answer, a furious buzzing interrupted what promised to be a passionate reply. Startled for only a fraction of a second, she realized it was her phone alerting her of an new text message. Flipping her phone open, she read:

_Lily, please._

The same wave of nausea washed over her and very hastily, she snapped the phone shut. All pretense of a smile vanished from James's face at the sight of her expression.

"What is it?" When she didn't immediately reply, he tried again, sounding more concerned. "Evans, are you okay?"

Lily glanced up at him. "What? Yes, I'm fine," she replied, waving a dismissive hand and stuffing her phone back in her bag. "Wrong number." He opened his mouth to protest but she was faster to say, "What was I saying before?"

James searched her face for only a few seconds before, with a serious expression, he answered, "You were just reliving the bitter disappointment of when the handsome stranger who almost crashed your car did not immediately ask you on a-" He never finished his sentence because Lily flung a balled up napkin his way. James chuckled, catching it effortlessly in his hand.

"Prat," she responded, earning her a wink from him.

"Speaking of wrong numbers, though," he started, unfolding the napkin she had thrown his way, sliding it across to table towards her. "You shouldn't write one on this napkin right here. You should write your own."

Lily only stared down at it before saying, "God, that was an awful line."

"You're right. I'm not very good at that sort of thing. I'm lucky I'm incredibly good-looking."

"Yeah, you are," she replied without thinking. When she realized how he would interpret that, she hastily amended, "I meant lucky. You are lucky."

James arched an eyebrow, the humor etched on his expression making his eyes brighter and his face far more handsome. "I see," he said slowly, smirk never faltering. "Even with that spectacular recovery, Evans, you are still admitting I am incredibly good-looking."

"I-" she started sharply, unable to think of something clever to say. "Stop changing the subject."

James raised his hands in surrender, smile still in place. Ignoring it, Lily went on, "I was saying before, if your parents refuse to pay for your football career, you could always seek out a scholarship. There's loads out there for sports. And it your marks are as impressive as you said they were, finding one should be fairly easy."

"A scholarship?" he repeated, all humor vanishing from his face. "Dad would hate that. He'd think it some sort of charity."

This time the disappointment pierced her as surely as if it were a knife.

"He's just... difficult about these things," he went on, unaware of how her expression had twisted. "He'd never let me be here on scholarship if he'd got more than enough money to pay for tuition. Especially considering the general attitude people have about scholarship students at a school like this."

"There is nothing vile about having talent and deserving to go to a good school for it," she shot back, her voice quivering as she managed to maintain control of it.

"That doesn't stop people from being tossers about—"

"There's nothing wrong with having to depend on a scholarship," Lily interrupted with a furious edge to her voice that was unmistakable.

James looked at her in surprise. "I didn't say—" he began, but stopped at the sight of Lily reaching for her purse again. "Are you leaving?"

"This was a mistake," she said, stuffing her phone into her bag.

"What was?" he asked, mirroring her and standing from his seat.

"I should have known something like this would happen when I saw the crest on your school card the other day," she said, digging through her purse for her wallet.

"What?"

"The crest that gives you priority in this school because your father has made several generous donations?" she replied, looking up at him, her voice far more vicious than she intended. Already, she could feel the regret that would assault her later on for saying it. "That's how you got into the Chaucer class without having to wait ages like the rest of us."

James made no reply. Several students in the neighboring tables were beginning to stare.

"I'm sick of everyone with money in this school acting as if it's a crime to be poor,"she muttered, slapping a note on the table in front of him.

"Evans, I didn't say that, okay? Relax," he replied, completely flabbergasted. Eying the note with confusion, he added. "And what's that?"

"It's money, Potter," Lily snapped back impatiently.

James rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm not that thick. I meant what is it for?"

"For the coffee," she replied dryly, gathering her things.

"There's no need to pay me back," he returned.

"I am perfectly capable of paying-" she started passionately, but he cut in.

"I know you are. I just wanted to do something nice for you, Evans."

Exhaling a sharp breath, turned to leave. "Just take the money, Potter."

"Hang on, Evans," James said, his tone dripping with frustration. He moved to follow her but Lily paused, not exactly meeting his eye but instead watching the students file in and out of the automatic doors. He sighed heavily, running a hand through his already disheveled hair. "I'm really trying here, Evans."

This prompted her to look at him. "Why?" she asked quietly. "Why are you trying this hard?"

"Because, even if you're impossible to figure out, you made an impression on me the other day," he admitted without thinking it twice.

"You don't—"

"What? Know you?" he finished for her. "That is _exactly_ what I was trying to do." When the redhead said nothing to that, looking stubbornly at the floor instead, he added, "But maybe it was all a waste of time."

This time, it was James who hastily picked up his books from the table.

"For the record, though, I'm not the one who's prejudiced, Evans."

The words sliced her like a knife, but by the time she looked up, he had gone.

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>Sorry this might have been a bit dull with the class talk. Also, I pinky promise the next one won't take months! It is almost completed as a matter of fact. The phone call business will be explained in the next one :)

As always, thank you for reading and for your lovely reviews!

—Bree

**EDIT:** Me again! (Dec. 31, 2014). You don't wanna know the things I had to do in this edit...


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **See? It didn't take months to update this time! Aren't you proud of me? I am!

As always, thank you all for your lovely reviews. As I said on the blog, they truly do make my day. If I could send you all some of those chocolate-covered, cheesecake-stuffed strawberries I made the other day, I would. Sadly, my gratitude will have to do for now. Thank you also to everyone who added this to their alerts or favorited!

Hope everyone is well!

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><p><em><strong>James<strong>_

It was perhaps the one of his worst training sessions and that had nothing to do with the rain that lightly fell on the field. His head reeled as he struggled to focus on the ball.

Everything moved far too _fast_, faster than he usually enjoyed. The way they almost collided, the way they met, the way he could not drive her out of his mind, the way she flared up and the way he stormed off- all of it was a blur to him.

"Oi, Prongs!" boomed the voice of Sirius Black seconds before the football smacked him unceremoniously in the chest. His best mate's curse was lost in the shrill screech of Coach Hooch's whistle. Before James could recover, the coach connected her hands together, signaling a break.

"What's with you today?" Sirius asked when he finally jogged up to James. "That pass was laughable. Even Aubrey wouldn't have missed that."

James ignored his friend, busying himself with wiping the water from his specs on the fabric his jersey. Sirius, far from letting the subject drop, shook his head when understanding finally crossed his face. "It's that bird you met, isn't it?" The prolonged silence from the other boy is all the affirmation he needed. "Jesus, Prongs, the situation is serious when _you_ are rubbish at football."

"Sod off, Padfoot," he snapped, marching through the slippery glass. The last thing he wanted to do was think about was Lily Evans. Unluckily for him, however, that was all he could do ever since he left her there two days before.

"Get a grip, mate," Sirius said encouragingly. "You only just met her. There's plenty of other birds in this school. And, luckily for you, I happen to know a very fit and very willing one by the name of Daisy Hookum sitting right over there." He turned James to the direction of the bleachers, beckoning toward the flock of girls huddling under umbrellas. "It's the redhead in the black skirt to the left," Sirius was saying, but James was paying neither him nor the redhead any attention. His eyes instead fell on another figure with red hair, much darker and longer than Daisy Hookum's, standing alone several feet away from the girls, hair sopping wet and arms crossed tightly across her chest.

His stomach swooped at the very sight of her, forgetting completely that he was supposed to be cross with her. Sirius clapped his back encouragingly, misinterpreting his movement toward the bleachers as an intention to take his advice.

He stopped before her, saying nothing. The rain fell between them, reminiscent of two days ago when they argued. He hated that he longed to break the silence and spare her the embarrassment. He restrained himself, however, and waited.

"Hi," she started nervously at last.

He fought back the impulse to run his hand through his drenched hair. Instead of returning the greeting, James asked, "What are you doing here?"

She averted her gaze to her feet. "I guessed you were in some sort of football team from what you told me the other day," she explained, still not looking at him.

"Evans, there's loads of football teams in this school," he said, watching her grow rosier still. "And we all practice on different days. How did you know which one I was in?"

"You had your sports bag that day," she offered through chattering teeth. He couldn't help but notice the end of that sentence sounded like a question.

"No I didn't," he returned.

Discovered in the lie, Lily mumbled her reply and that was enough to break his resolve and inspire an amused smirk in him. "What?"

The redhead repeated her reply, no less intelligibly than before.

"You looked me up?"

She finally looked up from the muddy grass, and even if she was glaring at him, her green eyes still managed to leave him momentarily dazed.

"There's nothing wrong with-" she started with dignity but she stopped when James laughed.

Lily watched him, relief relaxing her features.

"I asked around in the sports department," she continued when he sobered up. "It wasn't that difficult to find you because apparently, you're quite famous there."

"Yeah," he allowed. "I am."

"Conceited," she mumbled though not unkindly.

James smiled but otherwise said nothing, waiting for her to continue,

After that, Lily said nothing, her eyes falling to his body to take in his uniform. Pulse quickening, he held his breath until her eyes returned to his. She made no comment though.

"You're really good," she said at last, nodding toward the field where the rest of the players were beginning to clear out.

"I know," he returned though privately, his chest swelled pleasantly. Belatedly, he cringed at the memory of his ungraceful last few minutes of practice. "But I take it that you didn't go through the trouble of stalking me and standing in the rain for ages just to tell me that?"

Lily closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "No," she admitted.

James waited for she did not go on.

"I wanted to find you that same day but—" Lily said at last, shuddering at the memory. "Your next practice was today and you hadn't gone back to the cafeteria," she continued and James said nothing. It had taken a tremendous amount of restraint to stop himself from going there. Looking down at her nervous fingers, Lily went on. "About that day—" she stopped, inhaling once again. "I might have… overreacted a bit."

"A bit?" he repeated incredulously before he could stop himself.

He could have sworn he saw her lips twitch despite the situation. "All right, more than a bit." He raised his eyebrows and Lily shook her head. "Fine— I overreacted an awful lot." That appeased him so she continued, "I shouldn't have snapped at you about that scholarship thing. It was unfair and I'm sorry."

She met his eyes briefly, biting her lip as if fighting to get the next few words out. "And," she added with a steadying intake of breath. "I'm sorry for what I said about the crest on your card."

He could not resist. Out of all the mad things he had done in his short life, being that compelled by someone who was virtually a stranger was the maddest.

"It's alright, Evans," he responded at last, unsure of what else to add. He had always been rubbish at apologies, both at offering them and receiving them.

Lily looked at him, shoulders still tense. To reassure her, he offered a genuine smile which she returned. Meanwhile, the fall of rain became a lot more insistent, making them both squint against the drops of water slashing their faces.

"Are you cold?" he asked after a small silence, unsure of what else to say.

She waved her hand dismissively. "I'm fine," she replied, but her teeth were shattering briefly as she said the words.

He did not believe her for a second. With nothing but a small smirk, James took her wrist and jogged to the benches on the side of the field where the benched players sat during matches.

"Where are we-?" Lily began to ask through the sound of the wind but she stopped when they came to halt under the shelter enclosing the bench. Before she could utter her thanks, he dug through one of the duffle bags, pulled out a navy blue jacket, and draped it over her.

Lily looked down at it then at James, eyebrows raised.

"It's part of my team uniform," he explained.

Lily said nothing, but she did not remove it or protest.

"I've washed it, I promised," he assured her.

Lily laughed, a full hearted sound that rang through the enclosure shielding them , and all James could do was watch her, entranced by it. He forced himself to snap out it lest Sirius saw him. He was positive gawking moronically at her was grounds for at least two weeks of teasing.

Clearing his throat and losing all traces of amusement, he said, "Listen, Evans— I didn't mean—The other day— I'd never mock anyone for not having any money—"

But Lily was shaking her head, kind smile adorning her face. "It's fine, Potter," she assured him. "I didn't really think you were mocking me."

Not fully appeased, he went on. "I only meant my dad would see it that way, and if you want to hate him for it, I'm with you every step of the way."

Lily eyed him curiously at the second half of the sentence. She must have decided not to ask because she shook her head, the smile never leaving her lips. "James, honestly. It's _fine._" When she failed to see him fully reassured she laughed and added, "Fine, we can do something to make you feel better."

James stared at her with curiosity.

"We can try starting all over," she offered simply. "We can pretend we're meeting right this instant, violent near-death experiences aside."

James considered the idea. Finally, he shook his head. "No thanks," he informed her, enjoying the befuddled look on her face.

"Why not?"

"Because I liked the way we actually met," James allowed.

"_Why?_"

"Can't say, Evans," he replied cheerfully.

"Just humor me, you git," she insisted, stretching her hand out for him to shake.

"Why?"

"Because I want to be perfectly pleasant this time around," she admitted in a rush as though uttering the words quickly would stop them from reaching his ears. "I was lying before and I wanted to make _myself _feel better."

James laughed, shaking his head. Anything else he might have added was interrupted by the blast of Hooch's whistle. He made no move to return to the field, however, standing there grinning at Lily instead.

He took her insistent hand and shook it. "James Potter— pleasure to meet you."

"Prongs!" Sirius shouted through cupped hands from the field. He turned to see the whole team waiting for him to resume practice, but James merely held up one finger from his free hand to signal that he needed a minute. Sirius let his arms drop to his sides impatiently.

Lily shook her head, smiling and taking his hand regardless. "Lily Evans."

"Pretty," he said, nodding approvingly. "How about after I'm done here, we go for tea?"

She frowned, remembering what Dorcas had said two days ago about inviting Marlene and Benjy over. "I've got to go home, actually," she said apologetically. "But here—" she reached into her bag, looking for something.

"POTTER!" Hooch screeched, her face visibly furious even in the distance.

Lily, meanwhile, took his hand when she found the pen she was looking for in her bag. Very neatly, she scribbled a few digits onto the palm of his hand. "Very forward of you," he observed as he watched her. "Giving me your number after we only just met. Actually, not very different from you asking me out during our first meeting."

"Stay put," she admonished as she wrote the last digit.

"It's going to smear in the rain," James pointed out when she was done.

The simpering smile she offered him in return made his own disappear, forcing his eyes to fall to her lips.

"Something tells me you won't let that happen." And closing his fingers with her own, she let his hand drop and walked away, not without turning over her shoulder to smile at him one last time.

He was glad, minutes later, that she was nowhere around to see the way the ball smacked him squarely on the side of the head, this time intentionally sent his way by Sirius. But not even the blow or his friend's muttered, "Pathetic" as he passed him was enough to vanish the grin from his face.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Lily<strong>_

Traffic was not enough to erase Lily's smile on the way home. It broadened when her eyes fell on the blue lump that was James's jacket on her passenger seat.

She had been playing the radio louder than usual, occasionally singing along when a good song came on. It was so loud, in fact, that she almost missed the ringing of her phone.

"Lily Celeste Evans," said Marlene from the other end of the line. "Where are you? I'm _starving_!"

Though Lily couldn't see her, she could bet anything her friend was sprawled on the couch, filing her nails out of boredom. "I'm outside. And you could have started without me," she responded, pressing her phone in place with her shoulder as she climbed out of her car. The drizzle slashed against her jacket, seeping into the fabric of her shoes and into her already damp hair. Desperate to enter the refuge of her apartment, Lily hurriedly locked her car and dashed across the street to her gate.

"D'you think I didn't try?" Marlene shot back. The sound of the rain made it harder for Lily to hear on her end. "But Dork-ass here slapped my hand away—_Ouch_!"

Lily laughed at the sound, certain Marlene had paid dearly for using the nickname. "You know she hates to be called that, Marlene," she admonished. She doubted Marlene heard a single word, too busy with bickering with Dorcas as she was. Regardless, Lily said, "I'll be right up" before hanging up and stuffing the phone into her purse.

Pushing her sopping wet hair behind her ear, Lily tried her key, but as it was becoming customary, it would not budge. "Come on," Lily muttered, wiggling the key into the lock and pushing on the door in hopes it would creak open. But the pouring water lashing against it all day long made it far more stubborn than it was in the morning when she left. Irritated, she pressed her shoulder against the wood with force, achieving nothing but a throbbing pain on her arm.

"That's not going to work," said a voice she would have recognized anywhere. Despite it being lazy, low, and nasal, she heard it through the hiss of the rain. Pulse beating wildly at her throat, it occurred to her that half of her was expecting to hear it since the moment she received his first message. Frozen on her spot, Lily didn't turn around. Instead, she shook the key in the lock again, as if the door could sense her desperation to run inside and decide to work.

"Stop that. You'll break your arm before you get that opened."

"Get away," she said turning to face him at last. Her throat felt dry, but in spite of that, her voice sounded surprisingly collected. It didn't betray the icy cold panic coursing through her body. He looked thinner than she remembered him, his sallow skin somehow paler, contrasting harshly with the curtains of greasy, black hair framing his face.

"Don't be childish, Lily," he began, taking one more step closer. He stopped immediately, however, when Lily's body tensed, raising her keys menacingly before her. Her eyes wildly looked around, desperately hoping to see a neighbor or a passerby on the street. There was no one but the two of them.

"How did you know where I lived?" she demanded.

There was no immediate reply. "Lily—"

"It was him, wasn't it? That... awful man you work for now?" When he failed to respond again, Lily chuckled darkly. "Of course it was him. Shouldn't have been that hard for him to find you my information. That's what he does, after all, isn't it? He hunts people down."

"Lily, you have to let me explain—"

"I don't _have_ to do anything!"

He moved a few paces closer and Lily's panic made her heart beat at her throat.

"You have to know, Lily," he went on, his usually composed tone revealing hints of desperation. "What I did that day—"

"I'm not interested," she snapped back. "You can save your breath, Severus. You've clearly chosen your path and I want nothing to do with it." She tried the doorknob behind her again, but if anything, it felt much more useless than before. "I told you never bother me again!"

"If you just listen—"

"No, _you_ listen," she shot back so venomously that he flinched. "I don't _care_ what you came here to say, all right? It won't change what you've become and it won't make me any less repulsed by you. Now, leave me _alone_!"

"Lily," he pressed on, moving closer.

"Stay away!"

The door clicked open and swung back on its hinges. Lily, startled by the sudden bang, only had enough time to register she was being grabbed by the arm and dragged inside. "Stay behind me, Lily," commanded Marlene, her voice businesslike and indistinguishable from the whiny, playful tone she had used on the phone minutes ago.

A frightened Dorcas steadied Lily at once, mouthing, "Are you okay?"

Lily nodded quickly, sorting her brain from the clutter it was and willing it to take in the scene before her. Marlene stood in front of them, hateful glare fixed on Snape. Her posture was rigid, legs spread slightly apart to protect as much of Lily and Dorcas as she could, and in her hands, pointed straight at Snape's chest, was a firearm.

Snape's face, meanwhile, remained as cool as ever, outwardly unconcerned about the gun pointed at him. It was almost as if a gun was a daily occurrence to him and it was a minute before Lily realized that it probably was.

"Do not advance! You are trespassing private property and violating a restraining order," she boomed.

Snape rolled his eyes. Sounding bored, he said, "Lily, send your friends and their toys back inside—"

"Backup is on the way," Marlene continued in a practiced monotone. "If you do not leave the property immediately, you will be arrested." Letting all professionalism slip from her voice, she muttered, "If you're lucky." Lily could see the lean muscles of her arms flexing ever so slightly.

"Marlene," Lily started, eyes fixed anxiously on the gun, her muscles tensing in fear of hearing the deafening bang any moment.

The brunette ignored her. Eyes still fixed on Snape, she commanded, "Cas, take Lily upstairs. I can handle it from here."

But Dorcas, so pale that she was almost translucent, hesitated. "Marlene, maybe we should all just go upstairs and leave this to your squad."

Growing edgier, Snape sighed, looking imploringly at Lily. "Lily, please. You can't run away forever. Let me just explain what happened the day that—"

"Stay back!" Marlene barked when Snape advanced further.

"Put that down, McKinnon," he snarled. "Before you blast your hand clean off."

Marlene answered with a click of her gun. "The only thing I'll be blasting clean off is you from that sidewalk," she snapped, her tone murderous.

"Marlene!" Dorcas cried.

It worked. Snape despite his unaffected demeanor, stopped dead on his tracks at the gesture. He sighed impatiently, the vein throbbing at his temple betraying more anger than his expression did. "You're wasting my time. All I want to do is speak to Lily."

"The thing is," Marlene began conversationally, "Lily here made it pretty clear she didn't want to see you, let alone speak to you. So this is what's going to happen: you're going to save me a bullet, fuck off, and leave my friend alone for the rest of your disgusting life."

Snape, skin looking impossibly paler in his anger, opened his mouth to retort, but his words were drowned in the sound of distant wailing. It was a moment before Lily realized they were police sirens. Snape, reaching the same conclusion, froze in place, eyes widening. As it drew nearer, his eyes fell on Lily's.

"Lily, you have to forgive me," he said. Though his voice was quiet, Lily heard the words through the slashing of the falling rain and the sirens.

Instead of replying, she tore her eyes away from his, stubbornly fixing her gaze on the dusty floor. She didn't look up until Marlene closed the door, tucking the gun in her belt behind her.

"It's okay, Lily," she said, her voice uncharacteristically gentle. "He's gone."

"Are you all right?" Dorcas asked at once, her unceasing grip on Lily's shoulder growing tighter.

Silently, she nodded.

Dorcas and Marlene exchanged unconvinced looks, but Lily didn't care. All she wanted to do was to move as far away from that spot as she possibly could. It felt as if he was still standing at the other side of the closed door, ready to burst in any moment. Without saying much, her friends led her upstairs and into their apartment.

Once inside, Dorcas guided her to the sofa while Marlene picked up the phone, quickly punching in the numbers. "Longbottom, you can turn around now," she said as soon as the person on the other line picked up. "He's not here anymore." Marlene rolled her eyes at whatever the response was. "And you expected me to do that with no warrant? Moody knows even _he_ couldn't have managed to get away with that… No, he won't… Well, he'll just have to deal with it… Just go back to the station and tell him I've handled it." Lily wasn't sure if the matter was resolved or if Marlene just hung up the line before the other person could protest.

"Want some tea before dinner?" Dorcas asked Lily kindly, the color slowly returning to her face.

Lily shook her head. "Not hungry," she murmured and she could see Dorcas look up at Marlene.

"Lils, if you're scared he might come back, you've got nothing to worry about," Marlene assured her.

"I'm not scared of him," she told them a little louder than was necessary. She wasn't sure why, but it felt important they knew that.

The doorknob rattled before anyone could say anything else, making all three very alert. Already reaching behind her belt to retrieve her gun, Marlene called, "Who is it?"

"Colin Firth," came the muffled but pleasantly familiar voice from behind the door. Lily's shoulders relaxed as Dorcas stood up to get the door. On the other side of the threshold stood a curly-haired boy a few years older than Lily. In his arm he cradled a dark bottle of wine and at the sight of them, he grinned.

"Sorry I'm late," he began when Dorcas stepped aside to let him in. "I had a date with Rebecca—"

"Fenwick, you stupid prick!"

"Good evening to you, too, McKinnon," Benjy replied automatically, much too used to similar greetings from the brunette.

"You were supposed to change that bloody lock ages ago!" Marlene went on, ignoring his reply.

"Two days is not ages, McKinnon," he started but one closer glance at their pale faces weakened his smile. "Something wrong?"

Marlene, flaring up even more, opened her mouth to snap back, but Lily cut in. "Relax, Marlene. We told Benjy he could fix it tonight and not the other day. It's not his fault."

Looking more baffled than before, Benjy looked between the three.

"There was an incident, Ben," Dorcas explained before he could ask. "It was Snape. He waited outside for Lily to get home."

All traces of humor and color fled his handsome face. "He knows you live here?" he asked at once. "But how-" he stopped, realizing that was not important. "Are you alright, Lily? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine," she promised, right hand absently rubbing her left shoulder.

But he knew better than that. After all, it was he who had helped her that day so long ago. Instead of insistingly pressuring Lily to say any more, he turned to Marlene, "Did you call it in?"

"Of course I did, Fenwick, I'm not thick," she retorted at once. "Longbottom said they were investigating for any leads."

Benjy nodded once, much to used to her temper to take any offense in the answer. After a moment of consideration, he said to Lily, "Are you going anywhere tomorrow?"

Lily, who had been staring at the patterns on the rug at her feet, looked up. "What, are you going to suggest I stay locked up in here?" she asked, unable to withhold the bitterness in her voice.

Benjy merely sighed. "Of course not," he said. "But you should probably have someone with you every time you leave."

Lily felt the annoyance course through her. The last thing she wanted was to inconvenience anyone.

"He's right, Lily," Dorcas said kindly, aware of the way Lily's ears had turned red. "I don't have much to do tomorrow. If you need to go anywhere, I can go with you."

Lily said nothing despite her exasperation.

"I'm really tired," she announced getting to her feet. "I think I'm going to go to bed, all right?" To her relief, no one protested. "You guys should just have dinner. Don't let all of this spoil all the hard work Cas put into it."

Her friend smiled weakly at her before Lily disappeared into her room.

As soon as the door closed behind her, she heard the silent murmurs from the three on the other side of the wall. Not caring to listen in, she collapsed on her bed without undressing, feeling her head pound the minute it hit the pillow. Her eyelids began to feel as heavy as lead and when they were finally closed, she felt her phone buzz from her pocket. Jolting awake, she pulled it out, determined to stuff it in one of her drawers. It vibrated again, the screen illuminating her dark room with blinding white light. Her eyes caught sight of the unknown number and it was with relief that she realized it was not Snape's.

_All right, Evans?, _said the first message. Followed by a second that read:

_Told you it would smear._

He sent a third one after that:_ I even skipped my shower right after practice to keep it from washing off._

_Disgusting_, was her reply. She added a symbol of a winking face to denote that she was kidding. Immediately after sending, she felt her face reddening, never having used it before.

_No, disgusting is the fact that I accidentally texted some fifty year-old woman because I thought the 8 was a 5. Didn't bother to tell me it was a wrong number until half an hour later._

Lily snorted so loudly that she wondered if her friends heard. _Poor thing, _she keyed in._ The lady, not you. I can only imagine what sorts of things you told her._

His reply took less than a minute_. Don't remind me. She asked me if I was fit and that's when I knew it wasn't you._

Almost immediately, he sent:

_Because you already knew that._

And finally:

_;)_

Lily couldn't help but laugh. _You're just as conceited in writing as you are in real life, Potter._

Before she could set her phone down, she had his reply: _Can't deny that. And speaking of being unable to deny things, don't think I didn't notice you didn't exactly deny you think I'm fit. _

Rolling her eyes, she responded, _How do you know she was fifty?_

_Her name was Doris._

_That doesn't mean she's fifty._

_No one born less than fifty years ago would have that name._

Again, Lily laughed. Her friends' voices from the other room continued as normal so she was certain they did not hear her._ It could have been a fit, twenty year old blonde._

_Perhaps, but even if it was, it's not who I wanted to text. _

She could not contain the smile that dawned on her face. _How can be so sure you're texting who you think you're texting this time?, _she replied_. _

_Proper spelling and punctuation, for one. None of that u or y rubbish. And also, you sympathized with the horny old woman and not me. _

_Good point, _Lily replied.

He did not reply anything after that so Lily set her phone down. She emitted a long sigh, traces of her smile still pulling at her lips. She felt her lids become heavier with every minute that went by. Lily fought the urge to reread his messages, deciding that behavior was far more shamefully ridiculous than the winking face she sent earlier. Finally, after twenty minutes of deliberation, her phone buzzed again.

_Unless you want to send me a picture to verify your identity. Can't be too careful, you know. _

_Do all blokes eventually ask for those?_

_What? _he replied.

Then, mere seconds later, she received: _NO. Not like that, Evans._

_I know, I know. Only kidding, Potter. Wish I would have seen your face, though._

_Your wish is my command._

Seconds later, an image loaded on her screen. Lily bit her lower lip to contain the ridiculous grin on her face. There, handsome as ever and purposely twisting his face into a ridiculous expression was James, the spectacles he usually wore missing from his face.

_Attractive, _she sent, hoping the sarcasm would convey properly.

_Yeah, we established that. _

_Go shower, Potter, _she sent back.

_Already did. Afraid I can't send you any pictures of that process._

Again, Lily laughed, this time careful to keep her voice down for fear that her friends deemed her crazier than they initially thought. _Prat, _she replied.

Once more, he did not immediately reply. It was only minutes later before she received:

_So, do you want to get coffee/tea tomorrow?_

_Sure. Cafeteria? _

_No. Site of our near-crash._

_Fitting._

Deeming the conversation over, she placed her phone on her bedside table and rolled over. She lay there for minutes, listening to the distant sound of forks clattering against plates and the faint rumble of the passing cars out in the street. She shifted on her bed again, snuggling into her pillow and realizing that James's messages had effectively driven the night's events out of her mind. Another smile pulled at her lips. Before she could stop herself, she picked up her phone and sent:

_Good night, Potter._

_Night, Evans._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I am in the middle of writing something else in present tense, so switching over to past tense throws me off a bit.

Anyway , reviews are much appreciated!

And the blog where I post random shenanigans about this fic is **saywhenfic dot tumblr dot com**

Sorry for the weird format; this site won't let me post links.

Until next time!

-Bree xx

EDIT: This is Bree from the future :) [Dec. 31, 2014]


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**: I am back! Things have been a bit rough over here so it was a bit difficult to sit down and write for a while. Luckily, life has calmed down a bit and I've managed to finally get this here for you guys. I do apologize for how long it's taken. Honestly, I am beyond grateful at how lovely, patient, and supportive you all have been!

Thank you to everyone who commented and favorited the past chapters, along with the few other stories I uploaded since last update!

**Disclaimer:** Not Jo :(

* * *

><p>The melody was a sweet one and even asleep, she knew it did not belong to her dream. It was strange that such a delightful song would make her insides twist with dread. Lily opened her eyes at the second ring of her mobile phone, vibrating more persistently against the wood of her bedside table. Her insides clenched again before she could stop the reaction. In a fraction of second, however, she read the name of the sender and, feeling her muscles relax with relief, she opened the message.<p>

_You ready, Evans?_

She would never admit it to him, not even after all those nights of being together, enveloped in his arms, with his warm breath at her ear, so fluidly giving way to that chuckle she loved the most. Even when he teased her, his arm flexing to move her closer to him as she refused to answer, stubbornly hiding her face in the pillow instead. She would never admit how the mere sight of a message from him— however short— made her smile.

Biting her lower lip in a poor attempt to contain her grin, she replied, _Good morning to you, too, Potter. And ready for what?_

She rolled back onto her pillow, ears strained for the buzzing announcing his reply. The tiny stab of disappointment she felt when his reply wasn't almost immediate was another thing she would never admit to him, even when he could deduce the answer by her blush or by how defensive she got. Despite her better judgment telling her she was being obsessive, she looked at the message again and realized he had sent it at 6:05 in the morning, almost three hours ago.

A thought occurred to her and she hastened to reply,

_Wait, you're not outside right now, are you?_

James replied five minutes later, _What? No. I was at practice just now. I don't even know where you live. I was lucky enough to snatch a phone number from you, remember?_

He sent a second one almost at once and she could imagine the slight frown slanting his mouth as he added, _Despite your first impression of me, I'm not a stalker. When I saw you in the cafeteria the day we met, it really _was _a coincidence._

Lily was already getting used to the seeing of message that followed one another, much similar to his custom of ranting when speaking in real life. She could practically see the smirk in his next message. _Besides, it is usually the girls who follow _me_._

Lily rolled her eyes, but before she could compose a reply, a sequence of four new messages from him arrived: _Wait, I just thought…_

_Maybe it wasn't a coincidence I found you…_

_Maybe it was..._

…_fate._

Her laughter rang out through her dark room as she typed back, _You're ridiculous._

He didn't answer right away, so Lily decided it was time to finally force herself out of bed. By the time she finished dressing after her shower and drying her hair, his reply awaited her. Not for the first time, she could see her broad smile reflected on her phone's screen moments before she opened her inbox.

_You like it, Evans._

_And delusional, too._

_Admit it._

_No. And you never told me what I was supposed to be ready for._

"Good morning, Lily," Dorcas greeted her over top of her newspaper as the redhead took the seat across from her.

"Morning, Doe," she replied, completely enraptured in her phone. She missed how the concerned way her friend was watching her quickly shifted into a curious glance.

"What's that you got there?" inquired the blonde, her tone adopting a singsong quality that matched her knowing smile.

"Oh, nothing," Lily hedged, finally looking up from her phone.

The blonde was far too persistent to let the subject die at that. She set her newspaper down on the table and narrowed her blue eyes at her.

Lily, on the other hand, tried her best to feign interest on the newspaper, reading the headlines announcing a movie star's divorce, a protest in the city, and the disappearance of a respected investor as if they were the most interesting thing she had ever read. The attempt, however, was in vain. She could feel her friend's eyes boring into her and all too soon , Lily gave in. "Oh, all right! I'm just messaging James."

Dorcas's face lit up brighter than the beams of sunlight peeking through their clouds outside. "I knew it! I knew something was going to happen there! How long have you two been talking? And why am I just finding out now?"

Lily was at least glad that the dark mood Snape's visit brought was finally lifted. Already feeling her face growing hot, she opened her mouth to reply but her phone buzzed with his reply. _Not up to admitting it yet, are you? _

Lily's smile was back, and this time she was more conscious of it because there was someone around to see it. _Not answering that._

_That's as good as a confession._

_Shut up and tell me what I'm getting ready for. _

_For the best coffee of your life._

Dorcas returned to her paper, giving up any prospect of talking to her roommate, particularly when the redhead's nose was almost pressed to the screen.

_I hope "coffee" really means the drink and not some euphemism your dirty mind has thought of._

_Dirty, Evans. So this is turning into THAT type of texting... ;)_

_Just tell me where to meet you._

_The place where you almost killed me._

_Honestly, let that go._

_Never. See you there, Evans._

* * *

><p>There was little question about James's opinion of the coffee as soon as Lily stepped through the door. The tiny shop was alive with the sound of conversation and the roar of blenders hard at work. She could hardly get past the front counter without bumping into someone, even with her efforts of shifting her body to and fro to squeeze through the gaps. When she finally managed it, she glanced around for any sign of him.<p>

She saw him leaning casually against one of the bookshelves, completely unaware of the waitress watching him hopefully a few feet away as she straightened the displays on the shelves. Instead, his attention was stolen entirely by his phone, and judging by the way his eyes rapidly moved from side to side, he was reading something on the screen. A smile that tugged at something in her crossed his face.

"Hope I'm not interrupting something," she said just loudly enough for her voice to carry through the noise of the blending. Something told her that even if it hadn't, he would have still known she was there.

He looked up from his phone and his hand flying to his disheveled hair. "Not at all," he replied, stuffing his phone in his pocket and straightening up. His haste in putting the device away had Lily narrowing her eyes at him slightly.

"What were you looking at just now?" she asked curiously, pressing her lips together.

"Nothing," he replied so convincingly that Lily almost believed him. Her disbelief must have been apparent in her expression because he nodded toward the exit. "We should just find somewhere to sit outside. It'll be ages before we find a table in here."

He was right. There was no hope of an empty table, and even if there was, there were already people lingering around, looking hopefully at those close to finishing their drinks.

"Should we get our drinks—" she started, pointing toward the ever-growing line of people waiting to get their coffee order in. James, however, picked up two cups from the bookshelf beside him and raised them up for her to see with a grin.

"Got them before you got here. Thoughtful, I know," he said before she could. "Try not to fancy me so much right now, yeah?"

Lily rolled her eyes but felt her face grow warmer. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the waitress glaring daggers at her before marching away to the counter. Lily unsuccessfully tried to stifle a chuckle.

James frowned. "What?"

"Nothing," she replied just as innocently as he had before.

He caught on and laughed, shaking his head.

"Tit for tat," she informed him smugly.

Devilish smirk already curling his lips, James opened his mouth and Lily held up a finger. "Honestly, you're like a twelve year-old."

His laughter prompted a few people to throw them curious glances as they walked toward the exit. The tables outside were just as full as the ones inside, even when the clouds above swirled threateningly around the sun, blocking its rays from view. In the end, they found enough room to sit at the edge of large stone fountain adorning the small garden outside. It was a pleasant sort of place, the babble of the water soothing enough to make up for the darkening of the sky.

Lily took a sip of her coffee and hummed appreciatively as the silky liquid hit her throat.

"Good, isn't it?" James asked, taking a drink from his own cup.

She nodded. "Almost worth you waking me awfully early on a Saturday," she commented. "Do you come here everyday? It's a little out of the way from campus, isn't it?"

"Not really," he replied. "The last time I was here was the day we met. Shame I couldn't really have a cup that day, though."

"What were you doing here if not to get coffee, then?"

His smile slipped from his face so fast that Lily was left wondering if she had said something wrong. "I was here to meet you, obviously."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "You're absurd, did you know that?"

He smiled in return, a weak smile that was uncharacteristic to everything she had learned about him so far. "I was supposed to see my dad here that day," he finally admitted. He shrugged a shoulder. "Stood me up, though."

"Oh," was her only reply and she cringed at its inadequacy. Very tentatively, she added, "It sounds like... I mean, from the little you've told me, that you two don't particularly get along?"

James chuckled darkly at that. "Mum would love it if it were just that." He wasn't looking at her but his face remained carefully impassive. For some reason, that unsettled her more than if he looked angry or miserable. "We just ignore each other, really. At least until he wants me to do something."

There was a long silence after that, Lily struggling for something to say. "I'm sorry I brought it up."

"Nah," he said, waving a hand dismissively. He continued to stare straight ahead, his face as expressionless as he had kept it during the conversation. But upon looking closer, she could see the small cracks of emotion his expression betrayed, quite impossible to spot at first glance. The way he continuously sipped from his cup just for something to do, knuckles white from gripping it with unnecessary force, or the way his throat muscles constricted with the effort of gulping it down. She bit the inside of her cheek, fighting the urge to place her hand over his.

"I know what that's like," she offered quietly. He glanced up at her. "My sister," she explained. "We used to be really close when we were younger." Lily could already feel the knot in her throat that made itself present whenever she spoke of Petunia. "We only see each other during holidays now and even then, she refuses to speak to me if she can help it."

"What happened?"

Lily shrugged. "I never really knew exactly what changed. Everything was different when I got accepted into top private schools as a child. My parents couldn't really afford to send us both, even with all the scholarships I won. And it didn't help that they were always so proud of me, telling everyone who would listen that I was special. I think Petunia always resented that." She drew in a breath. "And it was worse when I met—" Lily caught herself just in time, "—new people and friends. We just sort of… grew apart."

It was nearly a flawless correction, save for the pause. It would have inspired no question from anyone else. The conversation would have moved forward with no doubts about what Lily intended to say first before she hastily amended herself. But James, tilting his head sideways to study her closely with warm hazel eyes that sent shivers through her body, was not fooled in the very least. He knew there was something she was hiding just like she inexplicably knew that it was her messages he was rereading and smiling so broadly about when she met him earlier.

James opened his mouth, no doubt to ask her about it, but the buzz of his phone interrupted. He glanced down at the screen and his expression hardened again. Before it could reach its fourth ring, James silenced it by pressing the "ignore" button.

This time, Lily refrained from prying, pretending not to have seen by looking at the ripples in the water beside them instead. James remained silent and, clearing her throat, she hastened to change the subject. "Anyway, that day we met? The only reason I was here was because I was running late."

James grinned and Lily was glad for the reaction. "Yeah, you told me as much that day," he said matter-of-factly. "Well, more like you yelled it at me."

Lily smiled sheepishly. "Right, I was awful, wasn't I?"

"Nah, I liked it."

Lily threw him a questioning look.

"I had finally met a bird who wouldn't put up with my shit."

She laughed. "She still won't, Potter, so watch yourself."

That earned her a smirk and Lily smiled, more out of relief that the unpleasant ambiance of before was slowly ebbing away. "As I was saying, I was running late and I took this street to try and beat traffic. I had never taken it before so I had no idea if it would work."

His grin grew wider. "See? I was right."

"Right about what?"

"It was _fate_." He placed unnecessary emphasis on the last word, blinking his eyes exaggeratedly at her. Lily snorted.

"It was traffic and your awful driving."

"I'm honestly not bad, Evans. It was those bloody hedges over there," he said, gesturing toward the wild, untrimmed bushes adorning the entrance of the parking lot. "Were you frightened, though?"

"The day we almost crashed? Not really. Mostly angry at the prick who didn't look both ways before entering traffic."

James nodded solemnly. "Hmm, a bloody handsome prick, mind you. One who brightens your days with his witty texts and charm, and who bought you the best coffee of your life. Imagine how dull your Saturday would have been if you hadn't met him."

Lily opened her mouth to reply but just then the barking of a dog that had just escaped its leash interrupted them. It ran as fast as its legs could carry it, ears flapping happily in the wind. A harassed looking man chased after it but before he had any hope of catching it, it jumped into the water, splashing thick droplets in their direction. Lily shrieked in surprise and jumped to her feet so quickly in her effort avoid getting wet that her coffee cup went tumbling to the ground.

The man was successful in catching the now drenched dog and reattaching its leash. He muttered an apology to them both before walking away. James, however, was too preoccupied laughing hysterically at Lily to pay any attention. "Not afraid when she is about to die in a car crash, but splash some water her way…"

"Shut up. I'm not afraid of the water," she snapped back with as much decency as she could.

"You sure, Evans? You could be a witch for all I know."

"Don't be so ridi—" she began to say, but the words transformed into a shriek of surprise when James pattered her with a handful of water.

"What are you doing? You git!" she yelled, blinking against the droplets falling to her eyes.

As innocently as he could muster, James raised his hands and said, "Just checking. I'm legitimately concerned that—" but this time it was his turn to be interrupted when Lily launched herself forward and splashed him.

"Wait, no! Hang on!" James called, putting up his hands to stop her. "If you're going to try and lose in a water fight against me," Lily shot him a dirty look, "let me just put these away." He dug in his pockets for his phone and removed his wrist watch, carefully dropping both into Lily's purse. Under the pretense of making sure the bag was securely closed, James bent low over it for a few seconds longer. "How do you close this bloody thing?"

"The zipper, Potter," she said, moving closer to take a look, but she staggered back with another shriek as he straightened abruptly, unyieldingly splashing her with both hands.

"Potter, you cheating prat!" she sputtered.

He was laughing far too loudly to hear her. In fact, he was laughing so hard, that he ceased all his movements to double over with laughter, his glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose. Water dripping from her chin and hair, Lily took that opportunity to reach for her abandoned and now empty coffee cup on the floor. She dipped it in the pool of water, but before she could proceed any further, James seemed to realize what she was doing. "No!" he yelled, leaping to his feet a second too late. The water hit him in the face, sending his glasses askew.

"You'll pay for that one, Evans!"

Lily's shout of laughter as she ran out of his grasp startled a few birds nearby. The people sitting at the patio tables were all staring at this point, some watching them with amusement and others making their disapproval evident in their glares or shakes of their heads. The water was beginning to make them shiver, particularly when the sky returned to its usual pale grey. But neither Lily nor James cared, the former far too preoccupied with keeping her balance on the edge of the fountain as she tried to outrun him.

He was faster, of course, and had no problem in finally catching her. Ignoring her protesting yells, he scooped her in his arms. "Put me down!" she demanded, but the effect was lost amidst her giggles. With a wicked grin, James jumped into the pool of the fountain, slopping water all over the front of his trousers and Lily's boots. He treaded through the small pool, heading straight for the stream of water at the center.

"James, no!" she yelled, struggling to free herself from his grasp, but he only held on tighter. Thinking of nothing else to do, Lily yanked his glasses from his nose, taking him utterly by surprise. Mere inches away from the spurt of water, he slipped, landing unceremoniously with a loud splash, Lily's body crushing his.

"Fuck," he grunted. Lily, whose vision was obscured with her sopping hair plastered to her face, struggled to move off of him. Despite feeling her legs and back throb from the fall, she was laughing, the sound carried by the wind that started to pick up around them.

James watched her with an amused smirk of his own. "You okay?"

"_Honestly,_" an angry voice said from behind them before she could reply. They turned to see an older woman in an apron glaring at them, hands at her hips.

"Sorry," Lily mumbled, jumping to her feet with difficulty, her soaked clothes weighing her down.

James, however, looked unapologetic as he gracefully hopped to his feet. He shot the woman a smirk she no doubt found insolent, judging by the way her lips paled. "Nice coffee shop," he commented briskly. The woman made no reply, looking as though she was counting the seconds before they disappeared from her sight. "Should probably rethink the fountain, though. Can't have innocent customers just falling in, can you? It really is a safety hazard."

Before she could reply, Lily pulled him out of the fountain by the arm, throwing her one last apologetic glance. James tipped an invisible hat to the woman, adding a wink for good measure as Lily grabbed her purse and dragged him to the parking lot.

Once out of the eyesight of the many spectators, the ridiculousness of it all seemed to seep in and they burst out laughing. "We'll be lucky if we're ever allowed back here again."

James shrugged, unconcerned. "Odds are she won't remember my face."

"I'd remember your face."

Just like she expected, he grinned at her, his hand flying to his wet hair. His cheeks, she noticed, betrayed a tinge of color that she had never noticed before. The sight, even if faint, thrilled her more than it should have. James opened his mouth to comment, but stopped, his arm shooting in front of Lily to stop her progress just as she was about to cross the lot.

A dark SUV recklessly raced past them and out of the parking lot, making a sharp right into the intersection. James let his arm drop and let out a low whistle as he watched it go. "Still think I'm a horrid driver when there's tossers like those?"

Lily nodded seriously. "Yes, you're still pretty awful." She looked down at her drenched clothes. "My opinion of you has only worsened now that you've gotten me all wet."

That devilish smirk she was growing so accustomed to pulled at his mouth. "You know, usually, that has the opposite—"

"Oh, shut it," she told him before he could suggest anything else though she was laughing.

They stopped at the door of his car and finally taking a look at him, she realized she still clutched his eyeglasses in her hand.

"Here," she said, stepping close to slip them back into place. His eyes never left hers as she did and a chill that had nothing to do with the wind ran through her.

"Fuck," he murmured, verbalizing exactly what Lily was thinking.

"What?" she asked anyway.

He flashed her a lopsided smile that made her stomach swoop pleasantly. "You look hideous," he informed her.

Lily rolled her eyes, ready to swat his arm playfully, but he moved first. Very gently, his fingers caught a stray piece of red hair falling to her face. Her breath caught in her throat and, standing very still, she allowed her eyes to flutter closed at his touch as he tucked it behind her ear. When she opened her eyes, he was closer to her than he had ever been before. If she took just one more step forward, their noses could touch, their foreheads, their lips…

Her purse vibrated, and, startled, she stumbled back. James reached out to steady her, guarded amusement dancing in his features. Feeling embarrassed for the reaction, she dug into the bag and retrieved, not her phone, but James's.

"Oh, forgot this was in here," she said, glancing briefly at the screen. It lit up with an incoming message from "R. Potter." Lily glanced away immediately, reminding herself it was none of her business, but her mind had taken in the words anyway.

_Stop being a child. Prewett is gone now. CALL ME._

James, smile fading away, took it from her hand at once.

"Sorry," she mumbled immediately, her stomach already twisting with shame.

But James wasn't listening, his eyes scanning the phone's screen. "Shit," he muttered, sliding his fingers swiftly across the screen. Lily assumed he dialed someone because he pressed the phone to his ear. "On my way," was all he said when the other person answered. The person's reply was far longer than James expected because he listened, impatiently tapping his foot on the cement, eyes shutting closed. "Right… I get it… Yes… _Yes_…I'm not an idiot. I know—" he was interrupted by the other person. Lily could see him clenching his fist at his side. His face pale with silent rage, he said, "Just tell Mum I'll be there in twenty minutes," and hung up.

"James—" Lily started, utterly mystified.

"I've got to go," he told her, already unlocking his car. He paused to look at her, all traces of humor long gone from his face. "Get home safely, all right?"

Lily said nothing, watching him with anxious eyes.

He must have seen how worried she was because his expression softened. "Nothing's wrong, honest. I'll message you later tonight."

Lily didn't quite believe him but before she could say so, he gave her a faint smile and started to climb inside his car. Right as he was about to close the door, however, she called, "Be careful."

James stuck his head out to look at her. "Last time I wasn't, I met you," he pointed out.

"James, I'm serious."

His smile was far more genuine this time. "I'll be all right, Evans," he assured her. "Promise. Just get home safely and look forward to my text, yeah?"

"Git."

James winked in response and finally shut the door of his car. Lily heaved a sigh, shivering slightly from the wind that swept through her damp hair, as she watched him drive off.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Promise things will make sense! I just want these two to really get to know each other because, unlike in the original story, they _don't _know each other since they were eleven :(

As always, thank you if you decide to review.

Also, I might be posting some extra stuff on the blog so don't forget to check it: **saywhen dot tumblr dot com**

Until next time,

Bree

xx


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** **Hello again. It's been a while, hasn't it? First thing, everyone found the beginning of the past chapter a bit confusing. That was because that was my lame attempt to _allude_ to a future Lily and James will eventually have together. You did not miss anything. I repeat, you did no miss them sleeping together. Second, I am a liar, but you already knew that. I told you guys in the last A/N and on my blog that this chapter would answer questions and include all sorts of things. Well, it did in the original plan but it was taking so ridiculously long to write that I decided to break it up (and I'm rubbish at sticking with plans). That means that while this one may not have what I promised, the next one is already almost written and will not take as long to be up. YAY. **

**Before this note gets to be longer than the chapter itself, I just want to thank everyone for their support. It means so much!**

_Dedicated to all reviewers._

* * *

><p>"Lily, you're holding your wand all wrong!" Marlene huffed, letting her arms drop to her sides.<p>

Feeling a bit frustrated herself, Lily shot her a glare through the mirror. "How can I be doing it wrong, Marls? It's mascara! There's only _one _way to put it on, isn't there?" They had been sitting in front of her vanity for hours, Marlene obsessively picking at her hair, wrapping curls she was dissatisfied with around the curling iron until they looked meticulous. Mascara was where Lily drew the line, taking the tube from her friend and doing it herself. The thought of Marlene's swift hand anywhere near her eye mortified her.

The brunette released a steadying breath, closing her eyes as if preparing to explain algebra to an infant. From the corner of the room, Benjy burst out laughing, having muted the small television set in Lily's room in favor of watching the exchange. Feet propped up on Lily's writing desk, he flung a crisp into his mouth before commenting, "She looks bloody fine, McKinnon. I don't know what the fuss is about."

"Shut up, Fenwick," snapped Marlene. The redhead, however, met his eyes through the mirror and laughed along with him, mostly at the ridiculousness of it all. Marlene turned her glare to her. "And you, too, Evans. You both forget I'm armed."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Ben's right, Marls," she said, dipping the small mascara wand inside the tube. "It's honestly not a big deal how I look for this."

"Liar," her friend accused without missing a beat. "I saw the way your eyes lit up when he asked you."

Lily could think of nothing to say because her friend was probably right. She had felt a thrill when he called her to ask and she wasn't entirely sure if her face had betrayed that. Suddenly, she wished she hadn't just taken his call in the living room with all of them there. Marlene took advantage of her silence to screw up her face, tucking her chin in to make her voice deeper. "'_Go out with me, Evans.'"_

"He did _not_ say that!" Lily protested. "You lot couldn't even hear him-"

But Marlene continued, pausing briefly to press her lips together, her voice growing ridiculously deeper. "'_Go on, go out with me.'_"

This time, Benjy laughed in unison with Marlene.

"You make him sound fifteen," Lily mumbled. "And I _knew_ I should've just locked myself up in here when he called."

It was the brunette's turn to roll her eyes. "As if a wooden door would've stopped us from listening." Benjy hummed in concurrence and flicked the television's sound back on, his entire attention fixed entirely on news broadcast.

"Still, it's only dinner," Lily reasoned, unaware that her fingers nervously twirled around a curl of red hair. Marlene arched an eyebrow at it and Lily stopped, feeling herself blush.

Luckily, Lily was spared from any of Marlene's teasing by the sound of the front door being unlocked. "It's me," called Dorcas from the entryway, a habit that she had gotten into ever since the Snape incident. She sounded slightly short of breath and Lily caught a glimpse of her balancing a large grocery bag on her hip as she locked the door.

"Need any help?" Lily offered, beginning to rise from her seat, but Marlene pushed her back down by the shoulders.

"Fenwick, go help her," she ordered.

Benjy opened his mouth to argue, but Marlene cut him off. "If you're going to eat all of their food then you can at least help them put it away. Besides, since when do you watch the _news_?"

"Come off it, McKinnon," Benjy protested, raising the remote control out of reach as Marlene moved to snatch it away.

"You won't miss anything. Those rich, executive sods will still be missing by the time you come back and that protest is still going to be pointless."

"Sometimes I wonder if you're only a policewoman purely for the gun."

"Shut up, you two. I'm fine," Dorcas said, appearing in the doorway. She took one look at Lily and beamed, nodding approvingly. "Very nice, Lily!" she said, crossing her arms and reclining her shoulder against the door frame. "Mr. Pretty Car Crash might just have a heart attack when he sees you."

"And that's only with this modest dress Lily insisted on wearing," Marlene commented, gesturing toward the pile of lavish dresses the redhead had refused to wear, mostly because of their lack of sleeves or back. "Oh, stop fussing with that. You can't see it, Lily, honest," she chastised as Lily tugged nervously at the sleeve of her simple green dress. "And is he really pretty, then?"

"Blokes don't like it when you call them _pretty_," Benjy commented, his eyes still fixed on the screen. "Just so you know."

"I think _you're_ pretty, Fenwick."

"Nope," he replied completely unfazed, not even bothering to look up from the weather report as he sipped from his beer. "Not changing my mind, McKinnon."

"What about when that blonde bird you went on a date with the other night does it?" shot back the brunette almost at once. Benjy looked up at that. "What did she call you?" She slanted her mouth, feigning deep thought. "_Pretty Eyes, _was it?"

"That's not…" Benjy started, but instantly closed his mouth, face bright with color.

"And what sort of voodoo magic rubbish did you use on the poor girl? She is far too fit to have agreed to go out with you on her own accord."

"Shut up."

"Leave him alone, Marlene," Lily said in a tired voice. "He's handsome, intelligent, and talented enough to get any girl he wants."

"Thanks, _Mum_," Benjy mumbled, sinking further into his chair.

Dorcas laughed, ruffling Benjy's hair and answering Marlene's previous question. "He really is pretty, though. That Potter bloke," she clarified. Rumpling Benjy's hair again, she added, "Though you're adorable, too, Fenwick." Her eyes fell on Lily, playful smile already pulling at her lips. "This Potter, though..." she finished that statement with an approving and enthusiastic nod of her head.

"James Potter, right?" Marlene asked, scrunching her forehead thoughtfully. "Sounds familiar."

"Maybe because he's one of the best football players on campus," Dorcas pointed out.

"A football player!" Marlene repeated excitedly, head rounding on Lily . The wider and wickeder her smirk grew, the hotter Lily felt her cheeks become. "So he's really fit, then?"

"Marlene," Lily started warningly, but that only egged her friend on.

"How fit is he on a scale of Andrew Boot to Nathan Corner?"

"I can't believe you still objectify those poor blokes like that," Lily retorted, shaking her head in disbelief. Dorcas, on the other hand, laughed at the reference. It was a "scale" of boys all three of them knew, devised while they were drunk on their living room floor a little more than a year ago.

"Where would I fall on that scale?" asked Benjy thoughtfully from his corner, face slowly returning from scarlet to its normal color.

Marlene ignored him, looking at Lily instead. "All right, fine," she said, tousling Lily's curled hair and setting it with hairspray. "I'll just decide when I meet him." Lily found herself incapable of replying, succumbing to a coughing fit as she accidentally swallowed some of the hairspray. "That's going to be soon, yeah?"

Lily recovered. Before she could say a word, her phone droned loudly against the wood of the vanity.

_Ready when you are, Evans._

Her heart jolted to her throat. Feeling a gush of adrenaline shoot through her body, she replied, _Come on up. Just buzz for flat number seven._

Lily looked up at Marlene through the mirror. "You'll meet him sooner than you think."

"Doe's right. That poor bloke's going to have a heart attack with those legs, Evans," Marlene replied, appraising Lily as she stood to her feet. She scrunched up her nose at the redhead. "It's not fair, really."

Lily, however, looked at her imploringly. "Please, please, _please_ don't embarrass me in front of him."

There was a loud buzz that reverberated throughout the whole flat.

Marlene waved a dismissive hand. "Don't be ridiculous, Lily," she said as she moved to the living room. Dorcas caught Lily's eye and gave her a reassuring smile. It was she, after all, who always kept Marlene in check when she got too out of hand in public.

Benjy, meanwhile, set his bowl of crisps on Lily's desk and stood. He grinned at her and before following everyone out into the living room, pausing in front of Lily.

"Be careful, all right? If he tries to hurt you—" he started saying before Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"I'll be fine, Ben," she assured him, though she felt moved by his concern nonetheless. "Besides, I can take care of myself."

"Oh, I know," he said confidentially, nodding his head. "I was only offering in case you needed help hiding the body."

Lily's laughter followed them into the living room and it only died when there was a second buzz. Marlene hurried to press the button that would unlock the entrance door downstairs. They all waited the forty five seconds it would take someone to ascend the stairs and find their door. For some reason, Lily didn't know what to do with her hands as she stood there, waiting for the doorbell that would startle her anyway, no matter how anticipated it was.

When there was nothing, Marlene frowned and turned to Benjy. "You _did_ fix the lock downstairs, didn't you, Fenwick?"

"Jesus, yes, _Mum_," he returned just as quickly, raising his hands in front of him in surrender.

Marlene, predictably, opened her mouth to retort but that's when there were three consecutive knocks at the door. The brunette perked up and grinned at Lily before she moved to open the door.

* * *

><p>James continued to stare at the gold number seven against the nondescript wooden door of her flat. His knuckles hovered over the wood, but the incessant leaping of his stomach stopped them from making contact. From inside, he could hear the muffled sound of voices and he became very aware that her friends would be there, friends who probably knew all about him.<p>

That made his mouth feel drier than it already was.

James shook his head, cringing at the thought of what Sirius would say if he saw him like that. Nothing had ever made his palms so sweaty or his heart beat so fast that it threatened to burst through his chest, not even those last desperate minutes of a match when all they needed was one more goal to be champions…

He wondered why it surprised anymore. She unnerved him— made him feel completely at a loss. He might as well accept that.

_Man up, Prongs, _he told himself, rolling his shoulders a couple of times and releasing a sharp breath.

Upon knocking, the room inside became very quiet. His hand flew to his hair reflexively in the few seconds it took a tall, lean brunette to open the door. Her grin, which was already present before she even opened the door and which somehow unsettled him even more, grew wider at the sight of him. She said nothing, her murky, brown eyes sizing him up instead.

"Er…," he started when the silence went for too long. "Evening," he greeted her with a nod, shifting his weight slightly on his feet when her only response was the slight narrowing of her eyes. "I'm here for—"

"Have we met before?" she asked him, brow knit with her effort to place him.

"Don't think we have," James replied when he recovered from his surprise at the unexpected question.

She tilted her head to her side, clearly unconvinced. "What club do you play for at uni?"

An exasperated sigh preceded the appearance of Lily at her side.

There it was again, that sodding jolt in his chest. His eyes took in how lovely she looked in her green dress, forcing them away when he realized they lingered on the length of her exposed legs.

Lily, however, did not seem to notice, all her efforts invested instead in scowling at her friend. "Sorry, don't mind her," she told him, her expression softening when she met his eye.

"All right, Evans?"

"You're late," she pointed out in a tone that was laced with guarded playfulness. She crossed her arms, switching her weight to one hip.

It elated him.

"Anxious to see me?" he replied and he couldn't help the hand that got lost in his hair again.

"Don't flatter yourself."

"Bit hard to do that when you're already doing it yourself." He added a wink for good measure. Predictably, Lily blushed.

"All right kids, keep it behind closed doors," Marlene interrupted, closing the door when James stepped inside. If her grin was disconcerting before, it was nothing to how it looked now. "Completely off the Boot-Corner scale," she told Lily, her whisper so loud that James wondered why she bothered. "This one gets his own."

"Sorry?"

"Nothing," Lily replied quickly, looking as if she wanted nothing more than for the floor to open and swallow her whole. Of course, James didn't believe her and a grin started dawning on his lips at the prospect of teasing her about something. But she was quick, turning to the other two people in the room. "Everyone, this is James Potter. James, this is my roommate, Dorcas. You met her before," she said, beckoning toward the blonde who was, at the moment, waving at him in greeting.

"Somehow, I knew I'd be seeing you again," she told him with a smile.

James grinned at her but could not say anything because Lily moved on to the dark-haired boy leaning against the sofa, arms crossed as he silently watched them. "This is my good friend Benjy Fenwick," Lily said.

"Hey," Benjy said as he sent him a brief nod, which James returned.

"And this is Marlene McKinnon," Lily continued, nodding toward the brunette. Unlike the other two, she leaped forward and took James's hand in hers, shaking it enthusiastically.

"So very nice to meet you," she told him.

"And you," he replied, laughing.

He saw Lily flash her a dangerous look but Marlene did not seem to notice.

"Would you like a cup of tea, James?" Dorcas interjected just as Marlene opened her mouth to speak, a particular glint in her eye.

"I'd really love to," James started, glancing down at his wristwatch. "But we should probably get going, Evans, if we want to make it in time for our reservation."

Lily looked relieved as she nodded and started toward the door.

"Good meeting you all," James said with a tiny salute before he followed Lily out the door.

"Should we bother waiting up for you, Lily?" Marlene asked in a would-be innocent voice right before the door closed behind them. Lily, however, pretended to not have heard.

James chuckled, stifling his teasing remarks. Instead, they walked out to his car in silence. Before he unlocked it, however, he flashed her a smug smirk and asked, "So what is this scale I'm getting for myself?"

He enjoyed the way her cheeks bloomed with color more than he should. "It's nothing," she said almost convincingly. "Marlene's insane. Don't mind anything she says from now on, yeah?" Again, he would have been entirely convinced had it not been for the brief moment in which her gaze faltered to the floor.

"I only look thick, Evans," he told her.

At that, she laughed. "Take me to dinner, Potter, before I challenge that."

The night breeze rustled her hair and he found it very distracting. No more distracting, however, than the length of her skirt. "Yeah? Not very credible when you're going to invent a whole new scale for me," he stated, crossing his arms and leaning against his car.

Lily mirrored him and crossed her own arms over the front of her dress. "There you go being presumptuous again. It could be a scale of intelligence, or lack there of."

"Ouch, I'd believe that, Evans, 'cept you're blushing almost the same color as your hair." And here, he really had to fight back a grin. "And you can't keep your eyes off me."

"You mean the same way you can't keep your eyes off my legs?" she answered, shifting her weight from one hip to the other in a way that came across as challenging.

He was really grinning now. "Don't flatter yourself," he said, trying his best to mimic her tone from earlier.

"Bit difficult since you're already doing that for me," she returned. Before he could open his mouth to shoot something right back, she took a few step forward so that they were mere inches apart. Taken aback, James said nothing and only blinked in surprise as she patted her hand on his cheek sweetly and the fingers of her other hand skimmed along his for a brief moment before they pressed the keychain button that unlocked his car with a loud chirp.

He stood there, dumbfounded, moments after she slipped inside his car. Recovering, he cringed inwardly at how idiotic he must have looked, not remembering for the life of him if his mouth fell open or not.

"Nice of you to join me, Potter," she teased when he finally climbed into the driver's side.

His hand flew to his hair before he could stop it, the only visible betrayal of how nervous she made him. He wanted to believe that she wouldn't notice, but with how observant she was proving to be, he very much doubted it. He found comfort in the fact that she had no way of knowing about the jolts in his stomach as he turned on the engine on. "I think all this hanging out has got my smugness rubbing off on you," he informed her in a casual tone.

"We've only really done that a few times."

"Then we're going to have to fix that, won't we?"

"If you're lucky."

"I generally tend to be," he said as they accelerated into the main road.

"Keep your eyes on the road," she protested, though the attempt was half-hearted and a feeble excuse to hide how affected she had been by his gesture.

It was like fuel to him seeing her blush like that. His fingers hummed on the steering wheel with an energy that had nothing to do with the purr of the engine. "But I'd rather just stare at you."

"You're ridiculous."

"You're blushing."

"_Potter!_"

James chuckled out loud, fixing his eyes up front again. "All right, all right. I'll drive _safely_."

A few minutes of silence transpired. He couldn't risk a glance at her as they entered a rather busy intersection, but he could feel her stare on him, burning him like the proximity of a flame to the skin. He could see that she opened her mouth at least twice, each time losing her nerve and closing it again.

Finally, "Where are you taking me anyway?"

He was certain that was not what she had wanted to say. Regardless, he only committed to say, "You'll see."

Though his eyes were still fixed ahead as he drove, he imagined the glare she sent his way at that. "At least tell me if I'm overdressed?" He turned briefly just in time to see her nervously catch her lower lip in her teeth. "I wasn't sure what to wear…I don't know… Too much?"

"Too much clothing, definitely."

"Potter, you prat," she said, though she was laughing, her shoulders visibly relaxing against the leather of the seat.

"All right, sorry. You're fine." He stole another look at her. "More than fine— You look good… beautiful." His grip on the wheel tightened, inwardly cringing at his pause.

Lily said nothing and he wished she would. When he turned to quickly gauge her expression, she was beaming, only rubbing her lips together to stop the smile from breaking across her whole face. She was looking at him in such a way that if it hadn't been for the fact that he was driving, he would have undoubtedly leaned in to kiss her. "What?"

"Nothing," she replied, the ghost of her smile still dancing on her lips. She shifted on her seat and stared right ahead into the night. He glimpsed at her again and could see the golden lights of the city flickering in her eyes. He fancied them better looking at them like that.

He tore his eyes away from her and refocused them on the street unwinding before them. Before long, he could feel her watching him again, his skin humming once more at the thought of her eyes on him. Much like before, he could see her opening her mouth as if to speak, her fingers twirling themselves around her hair. Lily closed her mouth again, sighing silently over the sound of the city outside. James was about to ask her if she was all right, when it hit him.

He just _knew _she wanted to ask about the last time they saw each other and he had to leave so abruptly. They had never discussed it, after all, even if he'd told her they would.

Lily opened her mouth again and that's when he announced rather loudly, "We're almost there."

She studied his face for the brief few seconds before he faced up ahead again. After that, neither of them said anything until they arrived at the restaurant a couple of minutes later.

"Potter for two," he told the host at the entrance. There were groups of couples waiting around the spacious entry hall, some looking resigned and others irritated. He could see Lily watching them, her bottom lip caught in her teeth again.

Meanwhile the host scanned the long list of reservations. His gloved finger slid down the list a second time before he looked up at them both with an apologetic look. "I am terribly sorry, sir, but there is no reservation for Potter."

"Yeah there is. I called to confirm yesterday," James told him, peering down at the list himself.

The man, far from looking pleased by James's attempt to find his name on the list himself, scanned the list a third time. "Nothing for Potter tonight, sir," he informed them, flipping the pages of the leather-bound book. He paused a few pages from where he started. "Although, I do see there was a reservation for 'Potter' that was modified earlier today. It was changed from tonight to Tuesday."

James frowned at him and opened his mouth but the attendant went on.

"Ah, yes. It was modified by one regular guests, Mr. Richard Potter," he went on. James felt his fists clench almost reflexively at his sides. There was a mad buzzing at his ears, so loud that he was surprised he could still hear the muffled sound of conversation coming from the tables.

"No," he started through gritted teeth. "The reservation was for James Potter."

"James," Lily started quietly.

"I'm sorry, sir, but the reservation can't be changed back for tonight."

"James," Lily said again, this time louder. "It's okay. We can find somewhere else. Thank you," she added to the attendant before taking James's hand and leading him outside into the chilly night air. He was nowhere near appeased, but he still let himself be dragged outside by her small hand. She finally stopped a few feet away from the restaurant's entrance, away from the crowd waiting to be seated.

It struck him that his grip on her hand was tighter than he intended it to be. He quickly loosened it and dropped his hand to his side altogether, wishing at once that he hadn't.

"James," she said softly, compassion present not only in her voice but also in her gaze. "I'm sure it was an accident. He must have thought the reservation was for him all along."

He didn't reply, too focused on abating the raw rage swelling in his stomach. Finally, "What do you want to eat?"

Lily's shoulder rose and dropped with a sigh. "I think we both need a drink, yeah?"

"Yeah, there's a good bar—"

But she shook her head, eyes roaming the bustling street until they stopped on a building at the corner. Giving him a coy smile, she took him by the wrist without a thought and lead him across the street to the tiny shop with a neon sign announcing it was open twenty four hours.

"An off-license, Evans?"

But she wasn't listening as she continued inside, still gripping his arm. The bright, white lighting of the inside made him squint as they moved around the selves stocked with copious amounts of bottles, all in different sizes and colors. Finally, Lily stopped in front of a selection of amber bottles, dropping his hand to pick out a pair.

"Where do you plan to drink all of this?" he asked in spite of himself.

She looked up from the label of one of the bottles she was holding. "I was thinking we could go to your place?"

He raised his eyebrows at her.

"Not like that," she amended with a laugh.

"My flat mate's going to be there, though."

Lily shrugged, returning to the bottles. "He can join us." She glanced up to shoot him a warning look. "Again, not what I meant."

Her attention returned to the shelves, eyes studiously considering each bottle. James, already feeling his anger ebbing away, chuckled quietly at the way she bit the inside of her cheek, the way someone would when deciding between two answers on an exam. Seemingly having decided which bottle to pick next, she lifted herself on the tips of her toes to reach for it.

James laughed loudly when the attempt proved hopeless. And just like that, she had managed it again. She had managed to replace the bitter resentment in his chest with a mad thundering.

"You could help me, you git," she told him reprovingly.

"But you're almost there, Evans," he protested, crossing his arms instead.

Lily still managed to glare at him through her effort before focusing on her target over the stray locks of red hair falling on her forehead. James, unfazed as ever, took her distraction as an opportunity to appreciate her slender arms as she reached for the bottle. How was it possible that even the harsh lighting of the cramped shop failed to prove unflattering for her? His eyes descended down to her shoulder, to her graceful neck, and finally to her collarbones. The silky fabric of her dress, in her struggle, slid a few inches, revealing not only more of her skin but also a thin, pink scar, vivid against the fairness of her skin and disappearing well under her dress.

Lily huffed before turning to him again. "Are you really not going to—" She stopped and followed his line of sight to her front, color flaring up her neck and face when she realized what he was looking at. Hastily, so hastily that she almost dropped the bottles she was cradling, she hitched the front of her dress up with her free hand, effectively hiding the mark from sight.

Lily fixed her eyes on the floor, her face becoming redder with each second that ticked by, until she finally met his eye. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. James, unable to think of something to say, reached for the bottle with no problem. "I reckon these should be enough, yeah?"

She nodded but remained silent.

"Off to my place, then?"

Again, she only nodded. James was at a loss, unable to understand why a scar was so upsetting. He had them all over his body, too, from football and many more from a childhood full of pranks that he never thought all the way through.

He stopped abruptly a few feet from the register, turning to face her. "Just…" he started, trailing off and earning him a puzzled look from the redhead. "The flat's a bit…untidy."

"I don't think it can be worse than my mate Benjy's flat," she offered quietly.

But James shook his head solemnly. "Oh, but it is, Evans. Your mate Benjy's not flat mates with Sirius Black."

Lily rolled her eyes. "I'm sure it's not that—"

"Evans, we _buy_ new clothes just to avoid laundry."

She laughed and he felt a swell of pride at having managed that. "You're utterly ridiculous," she told him.

"So I've been told."

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><p><strong>AN: **And off to James's flat we go! Okay, I am so excited for the next chapter because we get to the good stuff.

Don't forget to visit this blog for shenanigans/stuff about this fic: saywhenfic dot tumblr dot com

As always, _thank you._


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry, sorry, sorry this took so long! Longer more elaborate note at the end of the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling's. **

* * *

><p><em>A clatter of bottles followed by the deafening crash of glass shattering against the alley floor, and that's when Lily saw him. Though the curtains of black hair covered his face, there was no mistake it was him as he collapsed on the dirty floor, knocking down more empty bottles as he went…<em>

The bottles clinked against each other with even the slightest bump on the road. Lily glanced nervously over her shoulder at the brown bag in the backseat as it swayed dangerously every time he stepped on the gas.

James, who had been silent ever since they left the shop, chuckled softly. "Relax, Evans," he told her, glancing at the bag through his rearview mirror. When her shoulders failed to drop, he shot her a sideways glance, asking with faint amusement, "You all right?"

Lily willed her shoulders to loosen up, becoming aware that her heart was racing almost painfully against her chest.

"Evans?" James repeated, concern beginning to creep into his voice.

"I'm all right," she said at last and she was surprised to learn that that wasn't entirely a lie. There was something oddly comforting about being safely in his car with him. "Where do you live, anyway?" she asked when she could feel his eyes studying her.

"Not too far from campus," he replied, eyes back on the road. She could see the outside lights in the glare of his glasses and it distracted her for a second. When she blinked out of it, she repressed the urge to ask why he bothered with a car if he lived so close to school, knowing it would sound rude.

"Are you sure your flat mate won't mind me being over? What if he's got plans?"

Lily could see the corner of his mouth pull as he stared ahead. Part of her wished he would look at her so she could appreciate his half smirk but at the same time she was glad he didn't. Her stomach was already in knots as it was. "You're bringing alcohol, Evans. You're essentially making his plans for him," he said, raising his eyes to the rearview mirror to check on the bag. "He'll love you. I'm sure of it."

Lily shifted in her seat. Instead of appeasing her, that made her far more nervous.

The elegant facade of his flat complex combined with the gleaming elevators inside did nothing to calm the swooping in her stomach a few minutes later. She suddenly wished she hadn't insisted on carrying the bag full of bottles. She was terrified of dropping it and staining the brilliant floor. James was saying something about the intimidating doorman but Lily wasn't listening. All she could think of was how much Dorcas would love to live in such a building, how indifferent Benjy would be about it, and how much Marlene would pretend to hate it.

Lily broke out of her reverie as he stopped in front of a mahogany door with a polished, silver "12" shining brightly against it.

"Here we are," he informed her. As an afterthought, he added with a small wince, "I really hope he doesn't have a date over."

James turned the key and quickly glanced around before stepping aside to let Lily in. The sitting room was dark save for the flicker of lights from the television. Lily paid no attention to it at first, her eyes taking in the high ceiling and the vast windows that took up the majority of one of the walls, allowing for much of the street light to filter through. The first room alone was at least double the size of the sitting room in her flat. But what struck her about the spacious room was how unused and new most of the furniture seemed. She could see part of a dinning table in an adjacent room and some of the chairs still had plastic wrapping.

And, sprawled on the couch, the only piece of furniture aside from the chairs that seemed to be used, eyes fixed on the television set, was a handsome boy with dark hair and deep-set eyes. His already sharp features contrasted vividly with the brightness of the images flickering across his face.

"Back already, Prongs?" he asked, not bothering to look up. "I don't have to leave the flat for the night, then?"

Lily could see the muscles on James's throat flex in the semi-darkness. "_Lily_ and I thought we'd have dinner here," he said rather loudly and pointedly.

At that, his flat mate sat up straight to look at him, his eyes falling on Lily instead. Surprise briefly flitted through his features, his eyebrows relaxing almost as fast as he had raised them. No trace of embarrassment or apology, however, colored his expression. Instead, understanding dawned on his face.

With a sly grin, he asked, "You need me to leave _now_, then?" He did not wait for answer, already standing up and reaching for the remote.

Lily, catching on to what he must have thought and feeling her face flush, quickly began to say, "Oh, no! We're not—"

But James cut in by saying with a shake of his head, "Sit down, Padfoot. We'd never get you out of the flat. Dunno who you're kidding by offering."

The boy merely shrugged, the taunting grin still present on his face. "Thought I'd be polite. Don't want our lovely guest here to think I have no manners." He winked at Lily who wrinkled her nose.

"Yeah, she's positively _charmed_ by you at this point."

"Bet she is. And even if she's not, she'll like me. It would explain why she ended up liking you."

"He's got a point, Potter," Lily teased, pressing her lips soon after to stop herself from snorting with laughter at James's expression. "You were worse of a git when we first met."

"I offered you coffee," James pointed out.

"After nearly killing me," Lily returned.

James's flat mate let out a loud, bark-like laugh. "Sounds like Prongs— nearly killing a girl before asking her out."

"Do most of them wish he had succeeded instead of enduring his flirting?"

"I like her," he told James. An almost child-like glint of excitement lit in his eyes as he turned to Lily and asked, "Did he do that thing with his hair?"

Lily glanced at James, which was a mistake because the glare he threw his best mate almost sent her into a fit of laughter. "Yeah, he did and it was infuriating."

"He does that when he's about to make a total prat of himself."

"I noticed."

"Didn't even care about his car?"

"Not as much as he should have."

"That's a first."

"Well, since you two are practically best mates," James cut in, visibly less amused than the other two, "it'd be helpful if you knew each other's names. Padfoot, this is Lily Evans— Evans, this is my best mate, Sirius Black."

Sirius Black abandoned his lazy position on the couch and stretched out his hand to her, the promise of amusement already lighting up his handsome face. Lily balanced the weight of the bag on one hand and hastily shook his. "Pleasure," Sirius told her. He tore his grey eyes from Lily to look at James, and very seriously he added to him, "I thought Lily was the blonde one, Prongs."

"That was never funny, you sod." But Sirius let out another bark of laughter anyway.

"Padfoot?" she repeated. "Prongs?"

James's annoyance vanished as he exchanged a knowing grin with his friend.

"Old nicknames, love," Sirius explained casually. "With splendid and wonderfully embarrassing stories behind them."

"But," James added before Lily could ask. "You'd have to get us exceptionally drunk to get us to tell you all about those."

"Funny," Sirius mused. "It all started with alcohol in the first place, if I remember correctly."

"I doubt any of us remember correctly."

Lily laughed. "Is it lucky we brought these, then?" she asked, raising the bag in her arms, the movement making the bottles clank against each other.

Sirius raised his eyebrows, his interest ensnared by the bag. He leaned in to examine it and after less than a minute of perusing its contents, he let out a low whistle and directed an approving glance at James. "Good choice, Prongs," he told him.

"He hardly picked any of them. I did all of the work," Lily amended.

"Exactly what I mean," he told her with a wink before proceeding to slap James's shoulder. "Shame you didn't bring me any food from that posh place you went to, though. It's as if you don't know me at all."

James, who had leaned up against the sleek counter dividing their kitchen and living room, tore his eyes from Lily, abandoning the particularly pleased smile he was wearing to look at his friend. "I do know you, you sod. You hate the snobby rubbish they serve there."

"You do too," Sirius returned as he examined the contents of a particularly dark bottle with interest.

Lily, however, shot James a questioning look. With guarded amusement, she asked, "If you hate it then why were you going to take me there?"

Sirius moved his eyes away from the bottle to grin at her. He opened his mouth to comment but one glare from his mate and he opened his mouth to laugh instead.

A hint of color that Lily found endearing tinged James's face as he said to her, "Are you hungry? We can order takeout from that place a few blocks away."

Sirius, already working the screw of the first bottle open, shook his head. "They won't deliver here anymore after _the_ incident, remember?"

"They're still cross about that, then? It was Pete's fault and he doesn't even live here. Not to mention it was ages ago."

"We can make food here," Lily offered.

"Good luck with finding something," James said.

"Yeah, I don't reckon we even know where we keep those cauldron-cooking-things." He added the last bit rather thoughtfully, as if trying to remember but giving up only second later with a shrug.

"You mean pots?" Lily asked, laughing.

"Yeah, same difference. If we own any good ones after that time Prongs tried to cook and somehow melted most of it off."

"That was Wormtail, too." James amended. "Or maybe that was Moony," he added thoughtfully.

"I don't believe that," Lily cut in.

"Me neither," Sirius agreed. "Sounds more like Pete. He's done more damage to this place than both of us combined, which is saying something."

"No, I meant that there must be something edible around here," she explained, glancing toward the kitchen, but even from where she stood, she could see a lot of the furnishing in that room looked as unused as the rest of the flat.

"Be my guest," Sirius said, this time not tearing his eyes away from the bottle he was still examining. "Hey Prongs, is this the one we tried at Gideon's party?"

"Which one was that one?"

"The shorter, less funny of the two."

"No, I know Gid. Which party?"

"The party with that brunette who hated me."

"It's amazing how your memory is triggered by the women you meet," James replied.

"That's not all I remember about her," he started with a grin.

"All right, kitchen's this way, Evans," James cut in loudly, prompting Sirius to chuckle loudly.

"Good luck," Sirius called after them as James took the paper bag from her arms and placed it on the counter, not before selecting a bottle at random. Placing his free hand on the small of Lily's back, he lead her into the kitchen. A chill that visibly shook her ran through her body. Luckily, James seemed to notice nothing.

"I hope you didn't want any of that bottle he took." He smirked crookedly at her, blissfully unaware of the way her stomach swooped. "But this one will do, yeah?" He turned the bottle to show her the label.

"Yeah, that one's fine," she said almost distractedly, her attention enraptured by the warmth of his hand burning through the fabric of her dress. "He's not going to manage to finish that other one on his own either way, is he?"

James laughed. "Of course he will," he said with confidence. "When will you just take my word for it, Evans? Like with the severe lack of food in this flat?" As if to prove that point, he stopped in front of a pair of mahogany cabinets. Setting the bottle down on the counter, he opened them rather dramatically for her to see the empty shelves inside. "Ta-da!"

Lily bit down her lip to stop herself from giggling in a way that promised endless teasing from the boy grinning triumphantly before her. Instead, she fixed her gaze on the vast cabinet space that smelled strongly of new wood. All the shelves were empty, except for a few bottles of oil and vinegar, a small box of salt, and a bag of sugar. Unwilling to justify his smugness so easily, she turned towards the large, silver refrigerator instead. "What about the—"

"Fridge?" James finished for her, sweeping across the kitchen to open one of the shiny doors before Lily could. "Nothing but—" he stopped to glance inside, grimacing as he continued, "—a few cans of that beer Padfoot loves that tastes like piss; congealed wonton soup from that takeout place, but it's so old, it might kill you; a few sticks of butter; a mysterious, greasy brown bag; eggs that weren't there last night; and a bunch of browning carrots Moony brought ages ago in a miserable attempt to get us to eat better."

Lily peered over her shoulder to see it for herself. "What do you two _eat_?"

"At home? Mostly takeout from some place or another, _maybe_ pasta if our mate Moony is over and takes pity on us." He shut the refrigerator door. "Oh, and loads of cereal," he added, gesturing at the lonesome cereal box that rattled with the impact. "Assuming we have milk," he said as an afterthought, pulling the door open again and almost sending the cereal box tumbling over the edge. "Oi, Padfoot!" he called over his shoulder.

The other boy hummed in acknowledgement from the living room, too busy, Lily imagined, with the bottle he had claimed as his.

"We haven't got any milk."

"For about two weeks, mate," returned the other, unconcerned.

Lily, meanwhile, shook her head, half in disbelief and half in amusement. "I don't know how you two are athletes," she commented.

"Talent."

"Luck," she corrected, eyes falling on the freezer door.

"Obviously, you've never seen us play."

But Lily was paying him no attention. "Ah!" she exclaimed when she pulled the heavy door open, the cold waft that hit her sending another chill through her body. "I think I found dinner," she informed him so smugly that part of her wondered if that particular trait of his was rubbing off on her.

James, brows raised with intrigue, leaned over her shoulder to look inside. He was so close that the stubble of his chin grazed lightly over the exposed skin of her shoulder. A chill that had nothing to do with the cold cloud swirling from the freezer shocked her. "Is that a frozen bag of chips?" he asked, oblivious. "Hmm," he added after a moment. "We all thought that was an icepack."

Shaking her head, she wasted no time. In five minutes, after successfully locating plates and a decent pan, she had most of the contents of the bag sizzling in oil. "Do me favor, yeah?" she asked James who hummed in acknowledgement. "Find me a second pan and fetch those eggs from the refrigerator."

With a small salute that made her press her lips together, he set off to open every single cabinet in the room until he found a small, battered pan. "That'll do," she told him, carefully serving the cooked chips onto a paper towel. "Now, can I trust you to cook the eggs?"

He was shaking his head before she finished the sentence. "No, no, no," he repeated, shaking his head solemnly. "You're asking the bloke who thought Padfoot was right when he called pots 'cauldrons.'" And with that he hoisted himself onto the counter, watching her as she worked instead.

As she dumped the remaining contents of the bag into the oil, she suddenly became very conscious that she could do something ridiculous and equally embarrassing like burning herself or burning the food. She tried her best not to look at him as she cracked a few eggs onto the second pan.

Neither of them said anything, the sound of James struggling to open the bottle the only noise breaking through the almost silence. When he finally managed it, he took a swig, the muscles of his neck flexing as the liquid hit his throat. Lily tried her best not to stare, but when he met her eye, he winked at her.

"Fancy some of this?" James said with hints of amusement. "You look like you need it."

She shot him a glare which only elicited laughter from. The sound alone effectively melted some of her tension away, her shoulders relaxing as a smile of her own tugged at her lips.

James sobered up after a while, watching her carefully in silence. The remnants of laughter slipped slowly from his face with each gulp from the bottle. By the time she glanced at him again, his expression was unreadable.

"Sorry you ended up doing this," he told her, with a small gesture toward the pan.

"It's no problem at all," she said, flicking her free hand dismissively.

James, however, sounded unconvinced. "I had those reservations for ages."

"It's really all right, James," she assured him, moving the last of the chips onto the plate to cool. "I'm positive I wouldn't have known what to order at a place like that anyway."

He bit the inside of his cheek. "Right, but you dressed up and all for…dull chips."

"_Dull_?" Lily repeated with mock indignation, rolling her shoulders back and bringing herself to her full height. "That's because you haven't tried my cooking, Potter."

He offered her a weak smile and Lily sighed heavily. An extended silence followed in which only the hissing of the eggs in the oil could be heard along with Sirius's laughter at the television from the next room. Their eyes met once or twice until the silence became unbearable for Lily. Unable to brush aside what she had been longing to ask since the beginning of the night, she said, "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, fine," he said. She could tell he wasn't being entirely honest.

As tactfully as she could and after a nerve-wrecking moment of hesitance, she added, "With… with your dad, I mean."

James let out a long breath, similar to hers only seconds before. His resigned expression told her he had been expecting the question. "Things are hardly ever all right with him," he told her.

Lily looked back at the food, buying herself more time to think of what to say. "Do you think he really cancelled your reservation on purpose?"

"I don't know," he replied, bringing the bottle to his lips again. "This one's good, Evans, you should try it."

Lily set down the spatula, repressing a defeated sigh, and took the bottle from him. After having a sip, she sent him a remorseful look. "I'm sorry," she said, expelling a breath. "It's not my place to ask so much."

"It's all right, Evans," he told her, his small smile encouraging. "You can ask."

Lily bit her lip briefly before taking him up on that. She dumped the finished eggs onto the plate next to the chips, turned off the stove, and moved to lean on the counter next to him. She felt him tense slightly as her arm and his leg touched, but he made no effort to move away. Releasing a heavy breath, she asked, "Were you in an awful lot of trouble the other day? You just sort of… took off after you got that call from your dad and…" she trailed off, feeling far too inquisitive despite his reassurances.

It was his turn to exhale sharply, allowing the silence drag on. "I'm not the one in trouble," he replied finally, staring straight ahead as he took another swig from the bottle.

Lily opened her mouth, if not to prompt him then to change the subject to something less uncomfortable. Before the words left her, however, he simply said, "He is."

"Your dad?" she blurted. "What sort of trouble?"

His eyes roamed her face in a moment of hesitation, but when he spoke, he did so in almost a rushed breath of relief, as though the words had threatened to pierce through him. "I'm not sure. When I'm over at the house to talk about it, all we do is shout." He took another gulp from the bottle, saying nothing for so long that Lily thought had changed his mind. "It really upsets Mum. He was frantic the other day when I got there." He looked at her then, his expression as impassive as before. "Kept trying to reach two of his colleagues and only became angrier when he couldn't get a hold of them. And the oddest part of it all was that he went ballistic when I tried to leave the house." Another long pause. "I've never seen him like that."

"Maybe he's worried you'll be dragged into whatever trouble he's in," she offered, almost cringing at how inadequate her words were.

"That'd be difficult since I'm almost certain all of this has to do with the company losing money." He chuckled humorlessly. "Maybe he's worried I'm pissing all of his money away."

"James, I'm sure that's not it," she said kindly, reaching over to place a hand on his knee. His muscles flexed momentarily, but he became very still after that, watching her hand carefully as if he had never seen anything like it before. When he lifted his eyes to hers, she let her hand drop to her side.

Cheeks burning, she cleared her throat and said, "You know what the good news is, though?" He shook his head and she couldn't help but grin at him. "We're having a whole bag of chips for dinner."

His face brightened. "You know me so well already, Evans."

"That or you're becoming awfully predictable," she pointed out, popping a chip into her mouth.

He arched his eyebrows. "That sounded like a challenge to be spontaneous, you know."

He was visibly in a better mood and that only stretched her smile wider, so wide, in fact, that she bit her bottom lip to contain it. "There's only so much spontaneity you can muster while eating dinner so I'm not too worried."

His brows climbed even higher up his forehead, visibly enjoying every bit of the challenge. "I was wrong. You don't know me so well after all."

She rolled her eyes. "What could you possibly do here in your kitchen?" she demanded.

"Loads of things."

"Like?"

James paused to consider that as he chewed. "I could spray you with the faucet sprayer."

"Predictable," she declared as she continued to eat. "You already did something like that the other day at the coffee shop."

He allowed that. "I could throw the rest of these chips on the ground," he offered, glancing down at his plate.

Lily snorted. "Don't be so silly."

"Yeah," he agreed, stuffing a handful of chips into his mouth. "Burst into song?"

"Now that," she started with rekindled interest, "I'd love to see."

He laughed, reaching once more for the bottle. "Maybe at the end of the night when I'm really sloshed," he told her, drowning a good amount of the bottle's contents. He offered it to her again and she took it, taking a considerably smaller swig. "In the meantime, maybe I could, I dunno..."

"Maybe you could what?" she encouraged.

He did not reply, opting to watch her carefully instead. Soon, a wicked glint lit his eyes, matching the nature of his lopsided smirk. His eyes dropped to her lips and she felt her insides convulse with a chill that ran down her spine.

"Potter?"

"You've very nice eyes."

"That—" she started, but she paused to even out her voice. "That's not so much spontaneous as it is—"

"True?"

"You're..." she trailed off, unable to finish the sentence as she always had. She was certain he didn't care. His smirk vanished entirely. There were no teasing comments and the mischief that decorated his face when he was about to taunt her was absent. It was just his eyes, as honest as she had ever seen them, taking in every inch of her face.

It was the warmth of his breath caressing her face that prompted her to realize how close she was leaning into him. Wondering if he could hear how her heart threatened to rip through her chest, she moved away. The movement sent her dress sleeve sliding down her shoulder and, mortified, she moved to pull it into place. His fingers, however, were already there, brushing against hers as they hesitated for her approval. Lily didn't stop him, watching as his fingers skimmed the surface of her skin, their trace pleasantly burning her.

"Thank you," she whispered.

He wasn't listening, his eyes on the still-exposed scar.

"Sorry," he murmured when he met her eye.

"Don't be," she told him, but out of instinct, she pressed a hand to cover it.

"I think you're perfect," he informed her, gently taking her hand and moving it away.

"You're probably wondering about this." she started breathlessly.

His hazel eyes roamed down the curve of her neck again, so gentle and admiring that every nerve ending in her body buzzed with electricity. When they found the marred trail of skin starting at her chest and disappearing under her dress, he said in a voice so low and quiet that made her pulse pick up. "You don't have to tell me anything about it."

Their eyes met, not only sending shivers through her body, but bursting a ball of warmth in her chest that encouraged her to trust him. "It was someone who I once thought my friend," she started, only half hearing herself for her attention was still focused on the way he was looking at her.

Yet the echo of eight words managed to break through.

_"I said don't touch me, you filthy Mudblood!"_

James watched her silently, no visible traces of impatience as she basked in the long silence.

"I don't think I've ever told anyone the full story before."

"You don't have to, Evans," he assured her. "We can go and watch telly with Padfoot."

She shook her head, determined to cling to her courage while she had it. James opened his mouth to offer something else, but she cut him off. "It happened when I was sixteen," she began, gauging his reaction carefully. "And I can assure you it's not nearly as bad as what you're thinking. It was just... humiliating." Something akin to relief flitted through his expression, but he allowed her to continue without interruption. "Maybe it's silly to be this affected by it..." She trailed off, unable to sort out her thoughts.

Shaking her head, she tried again. "Okay, you know when kids in school make up horrible terms to taunt other people?"

"Yeah..." he slowly replied.

"Well, there was this horrid term people at my school used to taunt those who weren't as... _affluent_ as they were," she started, already sensing the difficulty she was going to have in explaining. "It was awful. The word they used was 'Mudblood,' which means—"

She abruptly stopped when she saw him clench his jaw.

"What?"

"I know exactly what it means."

Lily blinked. "You do?"

"Turns out your school wasn't the only one with wankers like that." He said this through gritted teeth.

She recovered. "I've never met anyone from another school who's heard of it," she mused almost to herself. "Well, since you know what it is, it'll be a lot easier to explain."

* * *

><p><em>It was the hottest day of that summer and the excited bustle of students celebrating the end of exams broke through Lily's concentration as she waited by the gate. Despite her usual confidence, she had spent the last ten minutes reviewing the questions in her head and mentally assuring herself she had picked all the correct answers. It was important to her, after all, to score excellent marks on all exams. The thought of failing and losing her scholarship made her physically ill.<em>

_If Severus was there, he would roll his eyes, promising her that she did just fine, as always. Except, he was late again and Lily was growing impatient in the miserable heat._

_The redhead glanced at her wristwatch and huffed, blowing the hair that was beginning to cling to her sweaty forehead away from her face. Perhaps if the heat hadn't threatened to asphyxiate her and if that had been the first time he stood her up, Lily wo_uld _have waited for him for far longer. Feeling her insides buzz with annoyance, she pushed herself off the wall, the fabric of her shirt sticking to her back, and started for the avenue alone._

_She only made it a few yards, however, before she heard a familiar voice._

_"Hey, Lils, hang on!"_

_She would have recognized that curly hair and broad grin anywhere, even at a distance. "Hey, Ben," she greeted when he finally succeeded in meandering through the herd of excited students._

_Benjy bowed exaggeratedly in greeting, as he always did when he saw her. His grin broadened when that earned him a string of laughter from the redhead. "Did all right on your exams?" he asked._

_Lily sucked in a sharp breath, ready to spew all her worries, but Benjy interrupted with a chuckle and a knowing shake of his head. "Let me guess," he started, "you're convinced you've failed every single one."_

_She opened her mouth to protest, but he went on, "You always think that, Lils. And not only do you do fine, but you always end up winning that award thing every year."_

_"I'm still worried about the Advanced Physics one," she started, biting her lower lip._

_Benjy let out a defeated sigh. "You won't know until a few months anyway, so there's no use worrying about it now, is there?"_

_"I suppose…" she allowed, catching her lower lip in between her teeth._

_Her companion took that as a satisfactory answer. "That's the spirit," he told her cheerfully, oblivious to the dirty looks they were receiving for blocking the flow of students, eager to get as far away from the facility for the rest of the summer. "Now, in the meantime, you should join me and Carmichael for some celebratory drinks at my place."_

_At that, Lily rolled her eyes. "Stealing one drink each from your parent_s' _liquor cabinet doesn't count as celebratory, Ben. And besides, your friend is notorious for acting obnoxiously drunk after the one drink."_

_"That's why I want you to be there. Someone's got to stop me from murdering him when he gets too annoying."_

_Lily laughed, feeling her previous worry about exams and Severus melt away, her muscles relaxing significantly. "Sorry, Ben, I wish I could but I have to carry on home. I've no idea where Sev is and I'd feel loads better if I found him."_

_Benjy's grin slipped from his face at that, his expression darkening as it often did whenever she mentioned the name. But aside from all sanguinity vanishing from his face, he remained silent. Lily, however, had the feeling he wanted to say something._

_"What?" she prompted, somewhat defiantly._

_He only raised his eyebrows and shook his head. "Nothing."_

_"No," she returned, flaring up at once. "You want to say something about him, don't you? Go on, say it."_

_Benjy glanced around, the muscles of his throat clenching as he struggled to find the proper words. "Well," he tried at last. "I know he's your mate, but…" he trailed off, and it increased her impatience as well as her irritation._

_"But what?" she challenged, crossing her arms over her chest. The glaring sun was beginning to bring out the cluster of freckles speckled all over their surface._

_Benjy averted his eyes to the street of traffic, staring at the cars as they passed, whether to buy himself more time to think of something tactful or in hopes that one of them was his ride, Lily didn't know nor cared. His eyes met hers at last and she could already see the apology in them before he spoke. "He's not exactly—" He stopped, growing more uneasy as Lily's eyes bore into him. "Well, he doesn't exactly keep the most trustworthy company, does he?"_

_Lily felt her heart sink. She had been under the delusion that if others hadn't noticed, then it wouldn't be true._

_"Mulciber, Avery, and their little gang—you know what they do, don't you?" he went on, his speech picking up speed with every word._

_Lily said nothing to that, making Benjy bolder. "Where do you think Stebbins got all those pills the time he almost overdosed?"_

_"That's just—"Lily started with no real conviction._

_"A rumor?" He finished darkly. "And they're doing shit that's worse than dealing. Like the other day? They cornered Bertram Aubrey and pressed that filthy switchblade Mulciber carries around to his neck." Lily's eyes flew to his, almost desperate to find any sign that he was lying. His face, however, betrayed none and his eyebrows climbed up his forehead, challenging her to justify the incident. "That's why he missed the first round of exams. They scared him out of his wits." Lily did not know what to say so she bode for silence. "You know why they did it," he continued, watching her avert her eyes to the ground._

_"Because they think of him what they think of me? A Mudblood?"_

_"They think," he started firmly as though she hadn't uttered the word, "he's beneath them because he's here on scholarship." _

_"_I'm _here on scholarship—"_

_"Yes, but they'd never attack you because of Snape," Benjy snapped impatiently._

_Lily's tenacity took over, flaring from her chest to her tightly clenched fists. "Why would that stop them if you're so convinced Sev is as awful as them?"_

_Benjy chuckled humorlessly and Lily stared, utterly bewildered. "You don't see it, do you, Lily?"_

_Her brows knit together, but before she could pursue the subject, Benjy shook his head, shoulders relaxing visibly. "Just," he started, his voice losing its previous viciousness. "Be careful, all right?" He eyed her anxiously but for some reason, his worry annoyed her. "The other day…with Mary," he started, catching her completely by surprise. "Mulciber had her—" His voice broke before he could go on, the color rising to his face. His jaw worked momentarily before he continued, quietly than before, "I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't gotten there."_

_Though the noise of the street was as vivid as ever all around, the silence between them weighed on her shoulders like boulders. She couldn't bring herself to meet his eye in fear of betraying her resolve, her determination to believe in the one she had called a friend since she was nine. "I'm going to go find him," she announced at last, her voice breaking at the end. To compensate, she lifted chin high and closed her fists tightly at her sides._

_"Lily—"_

_"Have a good summer, Ben."_

_All of h_is _protests were lost in the deafening rush of anger buzzing loudly at her ears as she stormed off down the street. He did not follow her, probably knowing her well enough to offer any attempts at reconciliation. It was childish, she realized as shame began to swirl uncomfortably in her stomach. All Benjy wanted was for her to be safe_, _and part of her was touched by that. But in admitting there was danger in the first place, she was admitting that Severus was as guilty as Benjy claimed. _

_Lily continued to march down the street determined to find him and have him explain. She was sure there was a reasonable explanation behind it all. _

_Yet... there was a part of her that reminded her of how distant Severus had been in the past months. Once holding a perfect attendance record, he had missed class on several occasions, becoming defensive when Lily asked him about it. And all those times he had stood her up to go with Mulciber and his little gang... A paralyzing panic swirled in her stomach the more she thought about it, making her heart thunder painfully._

_By the time she realized where she was going, the street bustled with a different set of noises. Traffic, for one, was louder and far more aggressive on that side of the city. Angry horns blared at the unmoving cars and at the occasional gang of teenagers from another nearby school as they crossed the street, laughing and uncaring. In a few more blocks, she reached the intersection where Severus and she usually parted ways when they walked home together._

_Lily hesitated, wondering if there was any use in looking for him. She was not guaranteed to find him, and trying to do so only meant wandering the streets in the blistering heat_.

_She _e_xpelled a deep sigh, knowing that if she didn't try finding him_, _she would never enjoy her free afternoon at all. Defeated, she dragged her feet down the street he usually took on his way home, mentally compiling a list of all the places he could be._

_She decided to try the bakery where he always stopped to buy biscuits for his mother on his way home. She hadn't made it halfway down the road, however, before a series of shouts and laughter, followed by the remains of what looked like a dispersing crowd directed her attention to a dark alleyway nearby. If she hadn't turned to look, she would have missed him_ _entirely._

_There was a loud clang as he stumbled and sent old bottles toppling to the ground. He reached out to steady himself against the nearby brick wall, but when he missed, he plummeted to the ground, knocking down more bottles as he went._

_"Sev!" she cried, the gritty gravel of the wet floor stabbing her painfully when she knelt beside him. "Sev! Are you all right?" It was a stupid question to ask. Of course, he wasn't all right. His usually sallow face was bright with color; his bared teeth were pressed so tightly that the muscles on his neck threatened to burst through his skin; and the long curtains of black hair that usually fell over his face clung to the sweat on his forehead. "What happened?"_

_He made no gesture of having recognized her. He muttered unintelligibly under his breath instead, his black eyes scanning the floor frantically. Feeling the panic rise to her throat like a mighty wave, Lily followed his line of vision, taking in the sight of his possessions strewn throughout the alley. His schoolbag, once frayed and patched up, lay in shreds among the rubbish littering the floor; his papers and books, the pages soaked and warped on the floor; and glistening ominously in the ray of sunlight that shone through the gaps in between buildings was a handful of small plastic bags Lily had only seen some of the kids at school smuggle amongst each other in the back of the cafeteria._

_Or, at least, that's what they looked like at first glance. She averted her eyes, the sight burning her eyes worse than the sunlight ever could. "Severus, please tell me what happened." Her voice sounded shrill in her ever mounting terror, almost unrecognizable to her ears._

_He ignored her, trying but failing to hoist himself to his feet. "Leave me alone," he grunted._

_"What?"_

_He ignored her again, venturing a second attempt at getting to his feet. Relatively more successful the second time, he pressed all of his weight against the brick wall. Lily rose to her feet, immediately stepping forward to help him. No sooner had her hands touched his shoulder, however, than he shook her off with force she thought him incapable of in his current state._

_"Severus," she started, flinching at the hurt that seeped through her tone. Taking a deep breath to recollect herself, she allowed the frustration and annoyance she was beginning to feel take over. "Tell me what happened," she demanded._

_"Just go away," he muttered so venomously that she flinched. He steadied himself on his feet and limped toward his ruined belongings. _

_Lily, with all the dignity she had left, followed and when she was close enough to see the contents of the small bags, her heart sank horribly to the ground. "Are these yours?" she asked already knowing the answer. Severus said nothing. "They are, aren't they?"_

_His prolonged silence reaffirmed it. "I can't believe you!" she cried, raking her fingers through the front of her hair. Suddenly, in the whirl of thoughts swirling in her head, several realizations hit her at once. "All that money you've been spending…" She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment to steady herself. "All those things your mum said you bought her. This is where it came from?"_

_"Don't," he started viciously, "go on about things you don't understand."_

_She continued as though he hadn't spoken at all. "How could you? Do you realize how much trouble you'd be in if you were caught?" A horrible realization dawned on her, hitting her with the impact of a fist to the gut. "Everything everyone's been saying about you… It's all true, isn't it? All those awful things Mulciber and his lot have been up to… You've been part of it."_

_He did not bother to offer a response. Feeling the anger sizzle on the surface of her skin, she opened her mouth to continue, but as he staggered for balance, something fell out of his pocket with a loud clang. It was a dirty switchblade, plopping open with the impact, blade gleaming from the floor._

_Cursing under his breath, Severeus started to pick it up, but in his attempt, he lost his balance and fell to the ground. Lily launched herself forward to help him, but he shrugged her off._

_"Don't touch me," he spat, his shaky hand reaching to clutch the blade._

_"Sev," she started, slowly reaching for his shoulder. "Tell me who did this. Just let me—"_

_"I said don't touch me, you filthy Mudblood!"_

_There was a flash of silver as he violently swung around to shove her off. The sound of something ripping. The clank of his switchblade hitting the floor a second time, tainting the puddle with something much darker than its water._

_She tottered back, throwing her hands behind her to stop her fall, but a sharp pain throbbed at her left shoulder, causing her to collapse painfully on her elbows instead._

_Lily could do nothing but blink at him, stunned, unable to decide if it was the silence that hurt most or the word that preceded it._

_Snape, on the other hand, seemed to snap out of a daze, eyes wide with horror. "Lily," he started what little color remained on his face draining from it. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to…" He wasn't even looking at her straight in the eye. Instead, his panicked gaze rested on her chest._

_Lily followed his line of sight, catching sight of the large scarlet stain blooming rapidly through her shoulder. Though the pain failed to register immediately, the bitter, iron smell of it sickened her. She tried to stand to her feet, but another wave of nausea struck her, making her land even more painfully on her elbows._

_"Lily, let me—" _

_"Don't touch me!" she cried, dragging herself as far away from him as she could. _

_He recoiled._

_Gritting her teeth so tightly together she felt as though they would break, she attempted to stand up once more. She managed it this time, using her remaining strength to collect her bag from where she had flung it when she ran to him earlier._

_Snape, whether too shocked or too weak, did not move to stop her. _

_"Lily, please—" _

_"Goodbye, Severus." _

* * *

><p>Her hands were shaking by the time she finished, watching the floor instead of James. He, too, said nothing when and only magnified her anxiousness. "Benjy found me soon after and took me to a hospital. He had to work really hard to keep it from my parents." James continued to remain silent. "I told you it wasn't a big deal," she said to break the unbearable silence.<p>

"No, it is," he said with a solemn shake of his head. He added nothing else beyond that. Lily didn't blame him. If the roles were reversed, she would have struggled with comforting words, too. She suppressed a shudder.

"Evans," he started at last, but it was as if he hadn't made up his mind about what to say. He opened his mouth, but the words never rolled off his lips. At that very moment, Sirius wandered into the kitchen.

"So you did find food," he said, offering her an impressed nod. He looked as suave as ever, even in admitting defeat, with his hands in his trouser pockets as he casually sauntered over to them. He stopped in front of Lily to observe the contents of her plate and she could smell the subtle scent of whiskey in his breath.

"I told you I could manage it," she replied rather smugly.

"Those eggs were meant for a prank," Sirius observed.

"Good thing I came along and put them to better use."

Instead of listening, Sirius grabbed a handful of chips from her plate and stuffed them into his mouth.

"That means I like you," he explained when he had finished chewing most of it.

"Careful Padfoot," James advised. "Evans hits you when she likes you."

Lily slapped his forearm in response which only made chuckle. "See?"

Sirius helped himself to more of Lily's chips. He took the half-finished bottle from James's hand and drowned back a considerable gulp. "So what are you two up to now?"

Lily glanced at the digital clock on the stove and pushed herself off the counter. "Actually, I don't want to intrude any longer. I should probably head home," she declared.

James hopped off from the counter. "Are you sure? You can stay as long as you want."

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, finishing the last chips on Lily's plate. "You can join Prongs and me in playing a round of good ol' poker." He downed more of the bottle before amending. "Though now that I remember, it'll probably just be you and me playing if you stay, Evans."

Lily furrowed her brows. "Why?"

"Prongs's been banned from playing poker for being a sore loser."

Lily laughed as James shot his best mate an appreciative look. "Something James Potter is bad at?" Lily said tauntingly. "I _have_ to stay and watch."

"You're dead to me, Sirius Black," James muttered.

Unfazed in the slightest, Sirius made his way to the living room to set up. With a determined air in his stride, James began to follow, but Lily stepped forth and grabbed his wrist. "James, wait," she said, careful to keep her voice quiet enough.

He raised his eyebrows expectantly.

"Thank you," she told him. "For... listening. Tonight was brilliant."

A genuine smile pulled at his lips, making his face much more handsome. He did not immediately reply, instead moving his fingers to brush back a loose curl away from her face. She tried her best not to let her eyes flutter closed. "Let's go let's go make fools of ourselves at poker, yeah?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **

**Let me begin with a set of apologies, as always. Sorry this update took ridiculously long to be finished. As some of you know via the blog, I got a promotion at work and sadly, that entails longer shifts and less time for writing and other creative endeavors.**

**As you may have noticed, I decided to keep the word 'Mudblood' from the canon story lines. I thought very carefully about a derogatory term that would apply here and keeping the original made perfect sense. **

**Also, my apologies for the numerous cultural inconsistencies you find here as Anonymous pointed out (in my defense, though, I never said where this story is taking place. No kidding, that's not really my defense ;] ). My only excuse, poor as it may be, is that this was originally intended to be a oneshot. When I developed it, my primary concern was plot and characterization. Believe me, it made my brain itch so badly when I realized my mistakes. Sorry, I promise to do better in my next AU.**

**And finally, I want to thank each and every single one of you who waited for this.**

**And to those of you who have since joined me, welcome and thank you too!**

**Until we meet again, lovely readers!**

**In the meantime, don't forget to check the blog: saywhenfic dot tumblr dot com**

**-Bree**


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